


Scripts

by stupidslut420



Category: No Fandom
Genre: Original Fiction
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-16
Updated: 2020-08-16
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:34:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 38,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25927450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stupidslut420/pseuds/stupidslut420
Summary: Elsie Clairmont lived a privileged life in California before a stranger on the internet completely flipped it upside-down. Suddenly everyone wants her dead, and its up to her and the kindness of a stranger to get herself out of the life-threatening situation.
Kudos: 1





	1. CONTINUITY

**Author's Note:**

> hiii, this is the first of many chapters! every chapter is susceptible to being edited in the future since this work is nowhere near done!

Elsie was always comfortable in her large home, tucked away in one of the far corners of Atherton, California. Everything always pieced together nicely; the trees that remained punctual with the adapting seasons, the large swimming pool that lay not two-hundred feet from her kitchen, and her father that always made sure to come home just in time for dinner. She didn’t have much to do, so she always occupied her extra time with learning something different; whether it be cooking, learning the piano, becoming fluent in poetry—she was perfectly content with the way she spent her time.

But those nights her father came home a little late, or when the wind is a little bit too cool for early spring, or when the colors of the leaves were a bit past their deadline—she couldn’t help but to think she was absolutely oblivious, and just how vague that feeling felt.

“So,” her father began, interrupting her thought process. “What’ll it be tonight?”

Completely disoriented from her thoughts, Elsie pushed up her glasses to her face as she examined a recipe for lamb chops that lay on top of the white marble island in front of her. The recipe seemed busy, but that’s usually what she needed.

“I- um,” she tried to continue, not helping to feel out of the ordinary. She hated getting into deep thought about what she was doing; she preferred to stick to a schedule, a meaningless, engrossing schedule that kept her occupied and unaware. Whenever she broke the boundary, she couldn’t seem to find her way back to the surface. She couldn’t help but to wonder why this was starting to happen all of the sudden —at least, more often than usual.

She looked up at her father, raising a graying brow in anticipation for her response. She shook her head, now becoming aware. Comfortable.

“Pizza,” she finally spoke, closing her book. “This’ll just take too long.”

Her dad gave her a questioning look, followed by an appreciative smile. He ran a hand through his dark brown hair. He was well on his way into his fifties but aged very well. Elsie always credited his virtuous lifestyle. At least, she liked to think that way, unknowing as she was about his job.

“That’s new. You don’t want to cook today?”

“Why not take a night off, right?” she questioned, offering a weak smile.

“Well, I’m glad you chose takeout. I gotta run in about half an hour, and I probably won’t be able to stay long,” he spoke disappointedly, looking down at his watch as he picked his suitcase off the ground.

She frowned, not noticing that he was on his way out. “You’ve been staying out a lot lately, dad.”

“I know, I know. And I’m sorry. I haven’t been able to catch up much…” his voice trailed off as he drummed three fingers against the marble countertop. “How’s school?”

Elsie gave him a smile that read _are you serious?_ as she crossed her arms disapprovingly. “Really, dad? Has it come to this?”

“Come on, El. It’s a simple question. And I’m genuinely interested,” he rebutted, bringing a hand to his chin and he rested his elbows on the counter.

“Well, high school’s almost over. Forever. I’ve got several important papers I need to turn in soon, some presentations, interviews, last minute preparations for college, you know, nothing important.”

Her dad raised a brow once more. “Nothing important? Honey, that’s your future. It’s so much more than important.”

“I know, it’s just,” she paused to breathe, “scary to think about.”

Her dad rounded the table, leaning in to kiss Elsie on the top of her brunette head.

“You know, I’d do anything for you to have the best future you could ever hope for,” her father spoke.

She nodded gratefully. “I know.”

“All right, I have to go, get your pizza, invite Mara over or something. I don’t like the idea of you being in here all alone at night.” Elsie nodded in comprehension. “Lock the doors and enable the alarm system. I’m serious. You don’t know what kind of psychos roam these streets,” he spoke, a tad of sarcasm in his voice. If her neighborhood were dangerous to someone, it would be to the sorry soul trying to break into her home.

“Not to worry,” she smiled assuredly as she hugged her father goodbye.

Just as usual, Mara came over. Elsie always enjoyed having her around, her tall blonde best friend that never seemed to break her schedule and boundary that she tried so hard to strain away from. She grew up with Mara, knew almost everything about her that there was to know, sharing a sisterly bond she knew couldn’t be replaced by anyone else.

“So, are we getting high tonight, or what?” Mara asked, throwing Elsie completely off balance. Mara immediately broke into a snickering grin at her response. “Jesus, El, I was kidding. But seriously, what’s the plan?” she asked curiously as she opened the box of pizza. Elsie sat adjacent to her on the long couch, munching on a slice.

“I don’t know, the usual,” she answered in between bites as she picked up the remote.

“I’m really not up for sitting silently and eating pizza while watching another superhero movie,” Mara complained.

“Actually, can’t do that. The wi-fi’s screwed and it’s not getting fixed till tomorrow.”

She looked at her, face blank. “You’re kidding.”

“We could play monopoly or something,” she suggested hopefully.

Mara shifted in her seat, clearly not satisfied. “That’s it?”

Elsie gave her a funny look. “What? We always do that.”

“Exactly,” she rolled her eyes. “We _always_ do something so lame. When was the last time you’ve ever done something fun? Or different?”

“You think our movie nights are lame?” Elsie asked, offended. So much for her routine—Mara was throwing curveballs tonight.

“No, but they definitely aren’t amazing. When was the last time you’ve gotten drunk?”

Elsie’s jaw dropped, taken by surprise by her out-of-the-blue suggestions. “I’ve never-”

“Exactly! You’re eighteen and have never gotten drunk. Why?”

“Maybe because I’m not twenty-one yet?”

“Fuck it, _senior year_ , dude,” Mara basically chanted as she shot up from the couch. “You’re dad’s not home. He has a _shit ton_ of liquor. And we have a shit ton of time.” Mara was already up and walking towards the kitchen while Elsie’s eyes widened with fear. This is not what she had planned.

“ _Mara_ ,” she called, but Mara ignored her. Mara suddenly came back with a long, clear bottle of Smirnoff, along with two single glasses. “You’re _actually_ stupid,” Elsie started, feeling a sudden tingle in her stomach.

“I know. And,” she continued as she plopped next to Elsie, “so are you. You just refuse to acknowledge it,” she grinned.

“Smirnoff,” she pronounced as she held the bottle in her hand, twisting the cap open. Immediately, she was hit with its strong smell. “Are you sure this isn’t rubbing alcohol?”

“This isn’t even the worst of it. We’ll mix it with stuff,” Mara replied.

Elsie squinted skeptically at her. She wondered where Mara had been lately to suddenly want to get drunk with her. “Why now? Out of the many times-”

“Because!” she interrupted enthusiastically, almost raving, as she opened the bottle. “I was thinking, _God,_ we haven’t done shit! We could die any day now, and all we would’ve done is had good grades and boring assets. Do you wanna die that way?”

Elsie shook her head. “I don’t really plan on dying anytime soon.”

“Most people don’t. Drink up,” she smiled excitedly as she poured herself a glass.

Elsie held her glass between her fingers. Pressing her lips on the rim of the glass, she took a sip. Immediately she recoiled, regretting her decision. The liquid burned down her throat, leaving a taste in her mouth that warned her brain _throw up_ in flashing red lights.

“Just down it,” Mara said as she did it herself, making a face of disgust right after. “God, this is awful.”

Elsie, unsure, followed behind. It wasn’t long until both girls were feeling woozy, and Elsie was feeling especially different. A bit happier than usual, and a lot more talkative.

“So how’s Tyler?” Mara asked as she poured herself another shot.

Elsie smiled dumbly to herself, swooning at his name. “I _love_ him,” she said, completely sure of herself.

“Do you now?”

“Yes. Oh yes. Three years strong, and I know he’ll propose one day. He has to. He loves me.”

“When are you two gonna do it?”

“Do what? You mean… sex?” Elsie spoke, a little more quietly now.

“Duh, stupid.”

“I don’t—I don’t know. We haven’t talked about it yet… but prom night…” she trailed off.

Mara gasped. “You two totally should. And soon,” she spoke with exaggerated caution.

“Why so soon?”

“Like I said, death is sure! What if you die a virgin?”

Elsie’s eyes widened with fear. “Oh my god, you’re right! Should I text him?” she spoke frantically as she reached for her phone.

“Yes! Right now! Tell him what you want!”

Elsie unlocked her phone, anxious to send Tyler a message. She couldn’t remember what was going on, or what exactly she sent, but the last thing she could recall was this exact conversation.


	2. FIRST HANGOVER, NEW ME

It was an awful feeling. It was like having incessant nausea and the only cure was to knock yourself out. Stumbling off of the couch, she took note of the almost empty bottle of Smirnoff laying on the coffee table, along with an empty den. The stench of alcohol reeked from her breath as her head pounded.

Slowly, she began to recall what happened the night before. Stupid comments she had made to Mara. Dancing to music from the early 2000s for about an hour. _Are you kidding me?_ Shuffling came from the other room, and Elsie sloppily padded towards that direction. She ran into Mara, who was packing her bag.

“I gotta run, the father wants me home,” she said as she made her way towards Elsie. Her eyes widened. “Whoa, you look like shit,” she commented sarcastically.

She rubbed her eyes, then her temples. “I’m never fucking listening to you again,” Elsie groaned.

“Good idea. I feel like shit, but damn, Lizzie. Get it together,” she mocked playfully as she quickly hugged her. “First time’s always…” her voice trailed off, trying to find the right word, “weird.” She flashed a forced smile.

Elsie said goodbye as she made her way back to the den, cleaning up after the box of eaten pizza and their empty glasses. Gripping the bottle vehemently in her fingertips, she unscrewed the top, pouring the rest of its contents down the drain.

She replayed last night’s moments in her head as she cleaned, wishing Mara didn’t have to leave so quickly. It would’ve been funny to reminisce. Laughing to herself, she reached for her cell to text Mara, only to be quickly reminded of her texts from last night.

“ _Oh, shit_ ,” she cursed to herself, promptly dropping what she was doing. _Tyler._ She’d texted him last night. A lot. Bracing herself, she dashed to the stairs, quickly skipping steps as she headed towards her bedroom.

Elsie sunk into her bed and prepared for what she was about to witness. Grabbing her glasses, she pushed them up to her face as she examined her phone screen. Immediately, she recoiled in self-hatred. Messages. So many messages, both sent and received. Some from a concerned Tyler, and the other, all from her, reading so many things she’d never thought she’d live to tell someone. Of course Tyler was more concerned than anything else. He was aware of their comfortably limited relationship, soon to end up somewhere. That was the thing about Tyler: Elsie was easily able to keep the boundary line clean, sometimes—though rarely—allowing her thoughts to loiter its edge. She could confess she’d been curious about many things but thinking that way scared her. Such curiosity didn’t exist in their relationship. Or it did, but they pretended as though it had never crossed their minds.

She’s supposed to be religious. Her fingers held the gold-plated cross—a delicate piece of jewelry given to her by Tyler on their two year anniversary—and she felt dirty. Not the sexual kind, but the lying kind. The things she thinks about don’t exactly align with their waiting-till-marriage plans. She briefly remembered bringing up prom to Mara. She knew it was a lie, and felt stupid for lying about it so that she wouldn’t look like a prude. But as long as she pretended she never thought of it, everything was okay. It was, really.

They pretended many things. Part of her questioned why she was still with him at times, but she immediately drew away the thought. She had relied on Tyler for so long, he had always been there for her, been a good boyfriend, understanding, sweet, and everything she could hope for. Plus, not many boys are like he is, especially her age. They’re all young and _sexually crazed_ , as Mara put it. She’d know. She couldn’t care less about whatever god is up there. _She does what she wants_ , Elsie thought, almost enviously.

Shaking her head from the thought, she decided to send him a message back explaining the whole situation, fully aware that his reaction wouldn’t be a good one. Drinking was very out of her character.

Freshly out of the shower after puking several times, Elsie stood in front of her bathroom mirror, adjusting her contacts.

Suddenly the chimes from the doorbell sung throughout her spacious home, earning an unexpected jolt from Elsie. Quickly making her way down her spiral staircase, she padded towards the front door, peeking through one of the side windows. She carefully pulled the door open and she stuck her head out to look at the guest. In front of her stood Tyler, her blonde, green-eyed boyfriend. She stared at him with confusion.

“Oh, hey…” she greeted, pulling her cropped shirt lower in an attempt to cover her exposed skin. Her shorts weren’t helping much either.

“Hey Liz,” Tyler began, running a hand through his hair. “Can I come in?”

“Yeah, of course,” she agreed as she pulled the door open just enough to let him enter. She quietly shut the door behind them, standing awkwardly in the foyer.

Tyler took a moment to speak, taking a look around before he did so. He stood tall in front of her, keeping his gaze fixated as he sighed. Elsie did her best to look everywhere but his direction, which became impossible with him closing in the space between them.

“Look, we have to talk… last night. What was that?” he questioned.

“Oh god,” she groaned, turning away and towards the living room. Tyler followed.

“Come on, Liz. You can’t ignore this. What the hell?”

Elsie took a seat on the couch, Tyler following in her footsteps. She propped her elbows on her knees, bringing her fingers to her temples. She had already taken medicine, but she could still feel the headache from earlier lingering. She sighed.

“I was… drunk.”

She expected a disappointed sigh, or silence, or nearly anything rather than what she got. He laughed. She looked up to meet his gaze, surprised to see him genuinely laughing. She squinted at him. “Come on, Elsie. You’ve never gotten drunk before. You’re serious?”

“Yeah,” she nodded, unsure how the situation was funny.

“It’s about time,” he said as he scooted in closer to her, bringing an arm around her and pulling her towards him in a hug. “I was always curious to see how you’d be drunk,” his voice trailed off. “Now I know what you really think.”

Elsie’s mouth gaped. “I was _drunk_ ,” she argued, trying to conceal her reddening face.

“ _In vino veritas_ , Liz.”

“Don’t pull your Latin bullshit on me,” Elsie chided, still feeling a little out of it.

“Jesus,” Tyler only laughed a little more, rubbing his warm hand on her arm. “It means ‘in wine, truth.’ You’re so oblivious sometimes, it scares me.”

“I’m _not_.”

“Okay,” he paused, “prove it.”

Usually being one to take his challenges very seriously, she felt a strong urge to kiss him. Bringing her hands around the back of his neck, Elsie pulled herself towards him, pressing her lips to his. Tyler kissed back, stifling a laugh.

“I’m not sure how this proves anything,” he said as he pulled away. “You kiss me all the time.”

Elsie thought for second, before kissing him again as she crawled onto his lap. Tyler’s hands snaked their way around her hips, pulling her closer.

Elsie has kissed him, many many times, but never like this. _Especially_ not like this. This time felt different, the sort of different she’d been avoiding with him. She could tell deep down, had she said the words, Tyler would be so happy to comply. Yes, she loved Tyler. She loved his warm touch and soft fingers and lips and the way the both of them were touching her in that moment, but something about the situation felt confusing and completely foreign to her.

Tyler’s mouth was on her neck when the doorbell rang again.

Immediately pulling away, Tyler gave Elsie a strange look. Slowly climbing off of him, still high in the heat of the moment, she padded quickly towards the door. Skeptically, she pulled the door open. She was then face-to-face with a boy she had never met. She was too out of it to even check the peephole before swinging it wide open and staring at him like a crazy person.

“Hi,” he began, his brown eyes focused. He was slightly shorter than Tyler, young, but seemed a bit older than her. He took a look at her, most likely noticing her revealing clothing and messed up hair. “Is Mrs. Clairmont here?” he cleared his throat, unsure where to look. His eyes kept meeting her neck.

She tried fixing her clothing out of embarrassment, which was quickly replaced by confusion. “You mean my mom?” Elsie questioned suspiciously. It’s been a while since someone had asked about her mom.

“Well, Mrs. Elizabeth Clairmont, I was told she’d be home for the appointment—"

“Oh!” Elsie relaxed, “That’s me, _Miss_ _Elsie_ Clairmont,” she corrected. She highly detested people calling her by her full first name. His uniform and bag quickly revealed he was here to fix the wi-fi, just as her dad had told her earlier.

His eyes widened a little, his lips parting into what seemed like a concerned look. “Oh, I thought Mr. Clairmont was referring to a woman—"

“Am I… _not_ a woman to you?” Elsie squinted, very confused. She may be eighteen, but she was still most definitely woman last time she checked.

“Oh, I didn’t mean it like that,” he spoke awkwardly, “I meant an _older_ woman, a wife of—"

“Who is it?” Tyler called from the living room.

“Just the tech guy, he’s here to fix the wi-fi,” Elsie called back, holding her arms over her stomach in an attempt to cover up.

“Don’t worry about it,” she reassured him in his awkward state, stepping aside to let him enter. “One of the router’s over here,” she said as she led him through the house, entering the foyer. “There’s also one in the kitchen, backyard and there’s one on each floor.”

He didn’t seem used to such terms, a hint of surprise lingering in his features as he took a moment to examine the router. The look quickly disappeared. “All of them don’t work?” he asked.

She shrugged. “I dunno. I just know I can’t connect to the internet around here,” she said as she made her way back to the living room. Fixing things was not her forte. She caught a glimpse of herself in a mirror on her way over.

“ _Shit,_ ” she gasped, touching her fingers to the large bruise appearing on her neck.

She heard the tech boy laugh under his breath. She glared in his direction, then waved him off as she found herself back in the living room. Tyler was already heading out.

“I think I should probably go,” he apologized, almost with guilt.

“Okay,” she said, unsure what else there was to say. “I’ll see you, then.”

“Love you,” he waved goodbye as he left.

Unsure what to do, Elsie headed towards the staircase, trying her best to get past the tech boy as quickly as possible. She felt way too exposed around this stranger, and even worse with having no one else in the house alone. As soon as she reached the room, she pulled on an old t-shirt then headed back down.

She stood in front of him, examining how he was working with the router. He looked up to meet her gaze, most likely noticing her change of clothing.

After a while, he said, “What? You wondering what it’s like to work a day of your life?”

Elsie frowned at the insult. “You know, just because my father is successful doesn’t mean you have to be an ass. He worked hard to be where he’s at.”

The boy grimaced, not taking a second to stop whatever it was he was doing. “Oh yeah? What exactly does he do?”

“He’s an entrepreneur and investor. And I work hard too, you know.”

“On what?”

“School—why am I even trying to prove anything?” 

“I don’t know. Why are you trying to make conversation with your technician?” he replied sarcastically.

“Why is my technician giving me attitude?” she scoffed as she eyed him. She took notice of his nametag. _Gerald._ Even worse.

He stood up from his work, now facing her. Looking down at his hands, then towards the router, he cleared his throat. He thought for a second, taking a moment to speak.

“Just as I thought. We’ll have to send another person tomorrow. We need to bring in some parts.”

“Parts?”

“It’ll be fixed by tomorrow, promise.”

Before she could say anything, he was already gone.

Elsie sat calmly in the sunroom at the perfect time. The sun had a muted yellow tint, which gave the room a warm glow. Her skin gleamed under its influence, which is what made this room her absolute favorite. Sitting in one the hanging chairs, she propped _A Tale of Two Cities_ in between her fingers, taking her time to relax to herself. She tried to pay mind to the novel, only to have her thoughts wander somewhere between her experience with Mara and Tyler’s visit several hours ago.

Interrupting her leisure, the house phone rang throughout the empty home. She got up and walked towards the hallway, picked up the phone, then brought it to her ear.

“Hello?” she answered.

“Good afternoon, this is _Speednet_ calling to let you know that a technician will be heading to your home in about thirty minutes to meet your three p.m. appointment,” a woman’s voice spoke through the phone.

“Oh, no, you guys already came. He said he was going to have someone come out tomorrow,” Elsie corrected.

“Okay,” the secretary replied, confusion in her voice. “One moment.”

Elsie stood impatiently on the line, having half the mind to hang up. It wasn’t her problem that they weren’t organized enough to keep track of who goes where.

“I’m sorry ma’am,” the lady spoke after a while, “but we have not sent one of our technicians out today. I think you may be mistaken.”

“No, I’m not. I don’t think I would just imagine someone coming into my house to tell me they were fixing my internet.”

“Perhaps someone did, but it was not one of our technicians.”

Elsie couldn’t seem to find the right words to speak. Why was this woman making her feel like she was crazy? Clearly this was their problem, not hers. “Can you please check again? Someone was here, I had a conversation with him…” her voice trailed off as she tried recalling his name. “Gerald. That was his name. He was pretty young—”

“Sure, I’ll check. One moment,” the woman spoke calmly, only slightly showing frustration. Elsie didn’t blame her—how often did clients call her a liar? “All right,” her voice picked back up, “no one working here goes by that name, ma’am.”

She frowned. “Are you telling me that I just let some random stranger into my home to fix my router?” Her fingers were beginning to tremble at the thought.

“Did he fix it, ma’am?”

She didn’t respond at first. “No, he told me that you guys would send someone out tomorrow because it’s missing a part-”

“We don’t hand out _parts_ , but brand-new routers if they need to be fixed,” she spoke. “I advise you look into it, ma’am,” she said finally.

“Cancel my appointment, please,” Elsie spoke quickly as she hung up the phone, darting immediately towards her front door. She made sure it was locked, peeking out the small window. Her front yard, though unfortunately big, seemed to be clear. A few large trees, finely cut grass, and an array of flowers here and there but nothing. She squinted, convinced someone was watching her and looking harder, until she noticed something off by one of the bushes.

Her heart immediately began to pound when she saw a figure standing there, watching. Overcome with fear and anger, and a weird source of confidence, Elsie unlocked the door, swung it open, then marched onto her doorstep.

“ _Hey_ ,” she shouted furiously. “I’m calling the cops!”

The figure was evidently caught off guard, suddenly darting in the other direction. Elsie wasn’t able to see his face, but she could recognize certain features. Elsie’s confidence immediately fell as she examined what it was that she just did. Taking a step back, she quickly ducked back into her home and behind the front door, locking it behind her. Her breathing picked up as her heartbeat did.

Why did she do that?


	3. WHO THE FUCK IS GERALD

“That’s actually insane,” Mara commented, leaning forward with obvious interest   
in the subject. Her fingers held tightly onto her fork as she ate her pasta in the cafeteria, Elsie sitting across from her.

“I don’t know. Should I have actually called the cops?” Elsie asked, concern resting on her face. She wandered back to her sporadic burst of confidence, and just how unusual it was. If anything, the person could’ve hurt her.

Mara sighed. “Maybe it wasn’t that big of a deal. We tend to take things way out of proportion sometimes. What if he just thought you were cute?”

“A random stranger thinks I’m cute, pretends to be my technician, comes into my home on a day that is reserved for someone else, which is obviously _private_ …” her voice trailed off, measuring the options. She poked at her untouched pasta, unable to bring herself to eat anything. “Going through so much trouble doesn’t seem like he _just_ thinks I’m cute.” The thought of someone being obsessed with her popped in her head, but she quickly dismissed it. Whoever that guy was, he did not seem interested in any romantic or obsessive kind of way.

“Maybe he works there?” Mara suggested.

“He doesn’t. I remember his name. It was so stupid. _Gerald,_ ” she said with disgust. “When I asked the company, they told me no one named Gerald worked there.”

“Hm,” Mara thought as she continued to eat her food. “This _Gerald_ guy. You two were in your house? Alone?” Mara questioned.

“No, I mean, yes. But not at first. Tyler was over before he came.”

“Then Tyler left?” 

“Yeah.”

“And didn’t care to think that he’d be leaving you with a complete stranger?”

“I mean, Tyler thought he was just fixing the Wi-Fi, like me.”

“You two are so smart, don’t get me wrong, but are _literally_ the dumbest people I know sometimes,” she spoke as she chewed on her pasta judgmentally. She continued to take in the information, clearly in thought. She chewed for a good few seconds, as if considering all the factors and putting together her point of view.

“Was _Gerald_ hot at least?”

Elsie frowned. “You’re kidding.”

“It’s a serious question.”

“No. He wasn’t,” Elsie denied, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of her thinking he was attractive. Maybe he was, but Elsie didn’t get a clear look at his face. He was wearing a hat, and she couldn’t exactly put his features back together.

“Damn,” Mara frowned exaggeratedly, followed by a light laugh. Elsie proceeded to shove her shoulder.

Elsie found her usual seat in English, right by the large window that gave her the perfect view of one of the school’s vacant courtyards during classes. Or at least most of the time. She enjoyed taking note of the people walking by whenever there wasn’t much to do in the class. There was sometimes people taking calls, hurriedly running to class, doing homework or classes taking the day outside. Not many people ever stayed there for long, but when they stayed, they always seemed to be doing something. Someone stood at the foot of the willow tree, reading a book, others stood with friends, chatting before the bell rang, and several familiar faces passed by, trying to get to class on time. By the time the bell rang, most of the courtyard had been cleared.

“Hey Liz,” greeted a familiar voice, which in turn Elsie turned to face Tyler, taking his usual seat next to her. Elsie smiled warmly in his direction.

“Hey,” she replied, trying her best to keep it together for him.

She was unsure whether she should tell him about the guy, mostly because she knew two things: one, he would hate himself for leaving her alone with him unknowingly, and two, she couldn’t risk him doing something stupid ‘for her sake.’ One thing she was aware of was that Tyler felt entitled, and she knew he believed he had the ‘authority’ to figure out who it was exactly that came into her home and would probably have his parents sue the company and anyone involved left and right. She hated that about him.

“So, I was thinking, maybe we should hang out this weekend? Just me and you. Like a movie or something?” Tyler asked, smiling his puppy-dog smile. It didn’t take Elsie long to figure he had other motives, ones that had to do with what happened that last Saturday.

“I don’t know,” Elsie started, building her sympathetic tone. “My dad said something about hanging out this Saturday, but I think I can get myself out of it. Plus, he usually calls out of the blue sometimes, so, I probably can,” she lied, knowing full well that she wasn’t looking forward to Saturday with him. She hated how easily she succumbed herself to pleasing people, not that she could help it. Elsie hated upsetting others.

Tyler’s face lit up with excitement, “All right, Babe. Sounds like a plan.”

One reason she never wanted to go too far with him was because she knew this would happen. She was afraid he’d end up using her or asking her to do something she wasn’t ready for. At the same time she also resented herself for even thinking that way. Did she really feel that he would use her? Or was she looking for a reason to not have to do any of that? She mentally rolled her eyes at herself for being so annoying.

Elsie gave him a smile as her gaze wandered back to the window and into the courtyard. Mr. Fox began teaching the class as she looked out. It was now mostly empty, except the guy reading by the tree was still there, obviously not heading to class. Wondering who he was, Elsie narrowed her eyes in his direction, slightly hoping for him to turn around.

Suddenly the boy looked towards her classroom, but didn’t notice her. Once she had a better view of his features, Elsie’s heart jumped as she grew stiff with fear.

It was him. _Gerald._

She felt her jaw drop and her stomach burn anxiously, which was once again quickly replaced with anger. She couldn’t quite pinpoint her feeling. Violation? Yes, definitely violation. Shooting her arm up, she waited patiently in her chair until Mr. Fox noticed her arm raised.

“May I go to the restroom?” she asked, her voice innocent. Mr. Fox nodded a yes, almost annoyed at her interruption. She did not care.

Pushing out of her desk, she darted towards the exit of the classroom, not bothering to say anything to Tyler as she left. Her fingers found their way to her pocket, pulling out her cell phone then dialing Mara. It took several rings before she could answer.

“What? I’m in _class,_ ” Mara answered, confused.

“I’m sorry, but it’s an emergency,” she spoke urgently, heading towards one of the school’s exits into the courtyard.

“What happened?”

“ _Gerald_. He’s here.”

“Oh my god.”

“I’m telling you!”

“You think he’s like, an actual stalker?”

“He’s found my house, my school, my technology appointments—hold on,” Elsie paused as she stood at the exit, now getting a clearer view of him. He had not yet taken notice of her, but she was able to look at him carefully.

Angry was an understatement. She felt something awful burning inside of her, something that she’s only felt once in her life, and had never planned on having to ever deal with again. Nothing made her as angry or broke her down as much as the feeling of being violated. With violation came the loss of her pride, her say, her control. And that was the last thing she planned on ever losing.

“You’re quiet. What the fuck are you doing?”

“I think…” she whispered, trying to collect her words, “I think I’m gonna confront him.”

Mara took a moment to respond. “Did you just say that? Did those words just come out of you, Elizabeth Clairmont, the one girl who would never confront a soul ever?”

She furrowed her brows, stepping a bit away from the window so she wouldn’t end up getting caught. “What are you talking about?”

“You don’t do this shit, El. You always stay in your little zone and wait for the situation to come to you. Why are you now stepping up?”

Elsie took a moment, processing Mara’s judgment. “You think I’m too much of a coward to face my problems?”

“No, I didn’t mean it like that. I meant that you like to keep your space, mind your business, be in control of yourself and not have to deal with any anxiety. And you have a _lot_ of anxiety right now. It’s just… not you.”

She found herself back at the window, looking back at the courtyard. She looked up, meeting his gaze, making direct eye contact.

And then she felt it again. That same disorientation, the one that made her feel dizzy and unsure of where she was; that feeling she got when she was too close to the boundary, only so much stronger. She stumbled a little, blinking furiously and grasping at her conscience. It took moments for her to realize where she was standing, and that it was Mara’s voice who was constantly calling her name through her phone, not some crazy voice in her head.

“El, what is going on? _Answer me_ at least.”

“Sorry, I’m sorry. Something just-” she stopped herself, now observing the vacant courtyard. “Fuck.”

“What?”

“He’s gone.”

“I don’t know if I’ll be able to sleep tonight,” Elsie whispered into the phone, Mara on the other line. She was tucked under her covers in her large bed, holding tightly onto her soft blankets.

“It’s okay. Just keep your mind off of it, okay?”

“That’s kind of hard. It’s dark, my dad’s not home, and my house is so fucking huge-”

“How unfortunate,” Mara said sarcastically.

“Hey, it’s not like I bought this house. It’s just me and my dad, did he really need to buy a three story home with many empty rooms? He could be next door, and I just wouldn’t know.”

“Are you tired?” Elsie asked after a long pause.

“Not really. I’ve just been browsing the internet a lot lately,” Mara replied. Elsie could hear the faint computer clicking in the background. “Lots of fucked up stuff going on, you know.” Elsie figured she was talking about the political state of America. _When hasn’t it been fucked up?_

“What are you doing?” she asked curiously, only to be interrupted by a thump. She gasped out of fear.

“What?” Mara asked, concerned.

“I think I heard something,” she said. “Hold on.”

“It’s probably nothing,” Mara responded.

“Do you really think that’s an appropriate observation for a situation of this nature?” she asked in a whisper, almost too seriously.

“Jesus Christ, El. Speak like a normal person for once.”

“I’m sorry, I can’t help it when I’m scared,” she refuted quietly, trying to listen for more sounds.

“Listen, you’re fine. Don’t you guys have like gates and shit guarding your home? And like some great alarm system? You’ll be fine.”

“Just give me a minute,” she said as she sat her phone down. Elsie sat up, listening for any further sounds. Quietly, she rose off of her bed, heading towards her bedroom door. Her fingers pressed against the cool metal of the door’s lock, turning it, while pressing her ear against the door.

Nothing.

She sat back onto her bed, bringing her phone back up to her ear. “False alarm, probably,” Elsie spoke, relieved. Mara didn’t answer. Elsie checked her phone, which displayed her normal lock screen.

The phone call had ended.


	4. before

Elsie stood tall on her toes, eyes focused on her reflection before she threw herself into another dramatic twirl, the shiny wood under her squeaking slightly as her feet found their balance, raising her arms above her head to finish the landing.

Mara flashed her a competitive look before proceeding to mimic her twirl, this time much faster and lingering much longer. Her spins were quick and calculated, yet appearing effortless to any observer.

“I could be here all night,” Elsie jokingly threatened as she pressed her palms to her hips.

Mara screeched to a halt, avoiding any sort of graceful ending as she huffed. “I don’t know why I went on for so long. I have nothing to prove to you.”

“Ha,” she laughed sarcastically. “Come on. I have homework. It’s late,” she haphazardly argued.

“And you’ll finish it just fine,” she responded as she stood her ground, just before finding the inspiration to start practicing her spins again.

She was right, it wasn’t that late. They had missed dance practice that day because they stayed late at school decorating the junior’s hallway for homecoming. Elsie was Vice President of student council, so it was paramount that her input would be received. She also really liked decorating.

As for dance, it was something her and Mara have been doing together for years—in fact, it was essentially how they met when they were about three years old. Dancing had never been one of Elsie’s passions, not nearly as much as it was a passion for Mara. She mostly did it because it was fun, and she wanted to be with her best friend.

Elsie couldn’t help but to smile in admiration as she watched Mara dance freely. Mara truly was beautiful: a thin figure with long light-brown hair and so infatuated in her movements. It was always something she could do so effortlessly—something Elsie had to practice more in order to achieve. Elsie didn’t necessarily give up on getting any better, but she had decided that where she was at was fine.

Music blared from Mara’s phone as she went through one of her routines. They were the only ones in the room, which—from Elsie’s experience—usually led to everything but productivity.

Mara changed the song from something upbeat to a slower song, and her movements went from quick to graceful. She danced her way to Elsie, pulling her into a slow dance. Elsie followed, feeding into the false dramatics.

“If you had to pick one song to get married to, what would it be?” Mara asked as they twirled around the room.

“How to disappear. Lana Del Rey,” she responded, resulting in Mara flashing her wide eyes in response.

“That was quick. Tyler making you think that way, huh?” she grinned.

Elsie blushed, trying to conceal her smile. “Well, not necessarily. I don’t really know my opinions on marriage.”

They continued to dance.

“Huh,” Mara replied. “I don’t think we’ve ever actually talked about this. Please, enlighten me.” This was one of their unusual feats. They know about every little thing about one another.

“I guess not,” Elsie shrugged as she twirled. “Can we stop dancing?”

“Yeah,” Mara laughed as they let their bodies fall to the ground next to each other. “I’m dizzy.”

“I don’t know if I want to marry anyone. Tyler kinda talks about it like it’s a for sure thing in the future. I don’t know how to tell him my thoughts about this,” she spoke, twirling the cross around her neck between her fingers.

Mara didn’t respond at first. “Damn. I thought you and Tyler would be together forever. All religious and whatnot. Is this not true?” she questioned.

“I mean, right now, yes, of course. I love him. I wouldn’t wanna be with anyone else. But I can’t tell the future, you know?”

“I guess,” she replied, slightly dumbfounded. “You seemed pretty eager to get married to that song, though.”

Elsie drew her lips into a fine line. “Well…”

“See! You do want to get married—”

“No,” Elsie interrupted, “I just… really like the song, okay? And when I listen to it, I envision myself dancing with someone to that song. Not necessarily my husband or on my wedding night. But, with someone I love, and I know I’ll be with for the long run.”

“And…” Mara’s voice trailed off. “That’s not Tyler.”

“That’s only half true, because even though it might not be Tyler now, it could be Tyler later.” Mara rolled over to meet Elsie’s gaze, squinting for a second.

“What?” Elsie questioned.

“You’re just… a very contemplative person,” Mara spoke as she analyzed her.

“Sorry if that’s an inconvenience to you,” she apologized unapologetically.

“No, it’s a good thing. No one here is. I swear, you are not like most people. I wanna tell you to stop acting like them when they’re around, but then they might steal you too.”

“I really can’t tell if these are compliments.”

Mara smiled at her before standing up to her feet and stretching her arms above her head.

“Take it as you will. I’m outta here.”


	5. DEAD

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> violence tw!

Elsie had a hard time sleeping. Every time she closed her eyes, she envisioned _Gerald_ , standing suspiciously outside of her door, waiting. Except Gerald’s face wasn’t very clear to her, and her mind kept skewing his aspects of his face. She also couldn’t stop thinking about how Mara spontaneously hung up on her the night before. She wouldn’t answer any of her text messages until hours later, claiming something came up and apologizing.

The sun rose and peered lightly through her closed blinds. Swinging her feet off her bed, Elsie stood up and headed towards her door. She turned the knob, which didn’t budge. It took her a moment to remember that she had locked her door last night. Once she swung open her door and stepped into the hallway, her foot met with an object, kicking it into the hallway and sending it rolling towards the wall. Furrowing her brows, Elsie neared a bottle, kneeling in front of it. She picked it up, resting it in her palm to study the container as she fixed her glasses. Her heart dropped as she let the empty bottle fall from her gasp.

It was the bottle of Smirnoff she had emptied and thrown out the night before.

“Morning, El,” her dad greeted, appearing in the hallway and causing Elsie to jolt at his unexpected arrival. “What are you doing?” he asked curiously as he stepped in front her, referring to her kneeling on the floor in the middle of the hallway. His eyes directly met the empty bottle of Smirnoff, earning her a look she didn’t recognize.

She gulped, knowing full well that it was time she told her father. Whoever he was, he broke into her house last night. He’d been following her around. This wasn’t something she could keep to herself, nor something she wanted to stay a secret.

“Dad, I think someone’s following me,” Elsie confessed.

Her dad raised a brow, keeping his face impassive.

“The wi-fi, it was supposed to be fixed last Saturday. The guy who came—he wasn’t a technician. He was a random man from who-knows-where, and he’s been following me. Yesterday at school, outside in our yard, and last night… he left this,” she spoke hesitantly, motioning to the empty bottle in her hand.

“Why would he leave an empty bottle of vodka at your door?” he asked skeptically.

“Did you not hear a word I said-”

“Oh, I did. I’m just curious why he would leave that.”

Elsie pursed her lips, averting her eyes. She felt her face redden with guilt. “I don’t know,” she said under her breath.

“I have a feeling you do.”

A sigh escaped her lips, defeated. “The night before, I drank some of this with Mara-”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” her dad rolled his eyes, bringing a hand to his temple. She felt a tinge of betrayal, not used to her dad not letting her speak.

“What? I could be in danger,” Elsie argued.

“Right,” he scoffed. “You never drink. All your life, you’ve spent it being so good. What happened? Did Mara pressure you?”

“Why is this the only thing you care about right now? I’m telling you-”

“You’re telling me a bullshit story to cover the fact that you got drunk while I trusted you to be home alone,” her father shot back, leaving her mouth agape. “Underage drinking is _illegal_ , El.”

Words couldn’t find their way to her mouth. Never had she seen this side of her father, one so accusing and unwilling to understand. “You don’t believe me?”

“Don’t you think I’d know if someone was coming into this house? We have an excellent security system-”

“Obviously not excellent enough,” she interrupted, raising her voice.

“Stop it, just stop. No more friends over. From now on, you’ll be home alone when I’m gone. Including this imaginary man,” he scolded, his words echoing off the silent hallway walls as he left Elsie behind, completely shaken.

Stressed would be an understatement in describing Elsie’s current state. Nothing seemed to be clicking, and everyone was on their own separate page while Elsie hasn’t even started the book. She needed a break, and to be alone.

She had decided to take a run through one of the hiking trails near her house while she mulled over her situation. Running always relieved her stress, no matter how much she told herself she disliked it; for her, it was some sort of a strong love-hate relationship. Only at times like these, where she felt helpless or needed to make a tough decision, did she find herself running along these thick trails.

The running wasn’t steady, either. It was all over the place, sometimes full-sprint and other times so slow, someone speed walking could easily race her and win. And it was definitely very angry.

She found herself in sprint mode again, attempting time pushing all thoughts out of her head but failing. Her feet stomped against the dirt as she increased her pace, leaning forward and picking up her legs as she gained momentum. The green around her blurred as her focus remained on speed. Nothing was important anymore. The only thing that mattered was finishing as quickly as possible.

Her goal was immediately diminished when she kicked an upright root, catching her foot and sending her barreling towards the ground. Elsie cried out as she slammed against the rocky surface under her, her knee and hands painfully catching her fall.

“Fuck,” she murmured to herself, examining her scraped palms and bleeding knee. Her attention was immediately diverted from her accident and towards one of the trees, where someone was standing. Quickly, she picked herself up, focusing on the boy who had been following her around earlier.

“Who are you?” she called, her voice threatening.

The figure only ducked into the trees, disappearing. Elsie broke into a sprint once again, avoiding any thought pleading for her to stop. She was fully aware of the danger and how this person could easily take her out if he wanted to, but she couldn’t let him get away.

“Why are you following me?” she demanded as she stopped, looking for where he disappeared.

Elsie was too busy looking into the forest where he had gone into to notice sounds come from behind her.

_Plunk_. She jolted at the strange noise, looking up to see the quick movement from her peripheral vision moments before the sound. Her eyes met a thin, long, bright green object lodged into one of the trees, something that looked a lot like an arrow, just inches away from her face.

She quickly whipped around to face a hooded figure standing not too far away, a cross bow dangling from their right hand. This figure was different, though: this one had a full-faced white mask with a messily sketched smile in black ink.

Now, Elsie was fully aware of the consequences of her situation. She was no longer angry, but scared for her life. She wanted to move, to run as quickly as possible, but all she could think about was that she was alone in the middle of a forest, and someone had shot an arrow at her.

The masked figure stared in her direction, as if analyzing her. After several moments, he carefully raised his cross bow once again, aiming directly at Elsie.

Her feet were suddenly glued to the ground. The voice in her head no longer told her what to do. Her limbs felt rock solid in place, and there was no moving her.

“Get down!” a voice yelled from a distance. She immediately snapped out of it, and suddenly Elsie could feel the movement in her body again. She threw herself towards the earth, not hesitating to think about its impact.

Once on the ground, she looked up to see a brawl between two people; one, the masked person with their cross bow tossed on the floor, and the other, which was the boy who had been following her the past few days. And it looked a lot like he was winning.

Gerald threw several punches at the person in the mask, leaving him unconscious. He then walked over to the cross bow, crushing it multiple times under his foot. He looked up to meet Elsie’s gaze, who was still lying on the floor.

He made his way towards her, stopping right in front of her face. Squatting down, he reached out his hand to help Elsie up. Being way too bewildered to refuse, she took his hand, palms sweating, bringing herself to her feet. Her heart was still thumping and her limbs continued to shake nervously.

“Come on, let’s get out of here before he wakes up,” he spoke, taking her by the arm as he picked up his pace. She could tell now that he was a lot stronger up close: his arms muscly, which only made her more uncomfortable. _He just beat someone unconscious._

She couldn’t find her voice to reject him, and she still needed to know what was going on. “Who are you?” she spoke after a while, her voice small.

He didn’t answer at first, his gaze fixed on the path in front of him. Once they were out of the forest and in the nearly-vacant parking lot, he turned, standing tall in front of her. “You need to go,” he spoke flatly.

She furrowed his brows at him. “What?”

“Get in your car,” he elaborated, almost condescendingly, “and drive as far away as possible. Don’t come or look back. I promise you, you won’t live to regret it if you don’t.” By the stern tone of his voice, Elsie quickly understood he was not kidding.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“You’re in danger. Someone— _people_ are going to try to harm you. Just go home, pack your things, and go. And trust no one.”

“What the fuck do you think this is?” she said, basically shouting at him in confusion. “I’m not going anywhere-”

“Really?” he questioned. “Are you really going to risk that, just after someone tried to put an arrow through your head?”

Elsie stared at him with contempt, realizing that he may be right, and something had to be _very_ wrong. “Look, _Gerald-”_

His face went from impassive to extremely confused. “I’m sorry, who?”

Elsie hesitated. “Gerald… the name that was on your uniform when I saw you…”

He drew his lips into a fine line, impatiently pressing his fists to his hips.

“Right. No, I’m Lucas, by the way, pleasure to meet you _Elsie,_ ” he spoke down to her. “But that’s not important, okay? I’m not here to be your little mentor and beat up every person who tries to kill you-”

“Who’s trying to kill me?”

He didn’t answer. He swallowed gravely, turning a red Chevy, which she assumed belonged to him.

“Hey,” she called as she followed him. “Answer my question.”

He sighed deeply, almost sympathetically, while opening the door to his truck.

“Everyone.”

Elsie stared in his direction, her mouth open, trying to figure out if she was hallucinating.  
Unsure what else to say or do, Lucas proceeded to shut the door to his truck, starting it up. Elsie quickly shook herself out of her stupor, now in need of answers.

“Wait,” she called out as she ran towards his truck. He gave her an impatient look.

“I can’t stick around,” he replied, avoiding her eyes.

Elsie held back a scornful laugh. “Are you serious? You’re going to give me the most vague and ominous answer, and _leave_?”

No reply.

“You seemed to have _plenty_ of time to be sticking around these past few days,” she challenged, bringing her hands to her hips.

Lucas chewed his lip, taking a moment to reply. “You’ll figure it out,” he said flatly as he jammed his truck into reverse, his tires screeching as they trampled the rocks making up the road, leaving a cloud of dust behind.

Out of complete helplessness, Elsie found herself darting towards his truck, frantically waving for him to stop. “You can’t leave!” she shouted, the words tumbling harshly out of her throat. “Please, just tell me something! You have to help me!”

The truck came to sudden halt, making Elsie a bit uneasy. It was silent, besides the low hum of his truck engine, which somehow put her even more on edge. He may have saved her life, but she knew nothing about him or who he was. The door swung open and Lucas hopped out. He looked as if he had been fighting with himself all day, his shoulders slumped and his face impassive.

“If I help you, I could die too,” he called from afar.

“Why? What the hell is going on?” Elsie demanded.

He paused for a bit, kicking up dirt from the earth under his feet. “Get in,” he said finally, motioning towards the passenger’s door.

Elsie’s feet once again seemed glued to the ground. She was beginning to consider the outcomes. For all she knew, he could be lying about whatever information he claimed to have.

Lucas raised his eyebrows. “Come on,” he urged.

As if the whole situation had turned around, Elsie felt a strong feeling of distrust. This person had been stalking her, and now she’s thinking about getting in a car with him? She did want answers, but something about getting into his truck seemed wrong.

“I don’t- I don’t know. You’re right. I don’t want to put you in any danger. I’ll just… I’ll just go,” Elsie said as convincingly as she could, mostly in an attempt to convince herself rather than Lucas.

He raised a brow at her. That was it. That was all that took him to get into his truck and drive off.

Feeling unexpectedly unsatisfied from their conversation, Elsie whirled around, making her way towards her car. She pulled out her phone to make a call, to her dad, or even the police, only to be let down. There was no service. Once she got to her car, she took notice of something different. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it. Scrunching her brows, she neared her car skeptically, trying to put together what made it seem… lower.

Kneeling down in front of one of her wheels, she noticed it was a lot flatter than it was when she drove it there. Cursing to herself, she frantically ran to the driver’s seat.

Her hand was shaking as she tried to unlock it, wishing she could use her phone right about now. Her heart was increasing speed and sweat formed in her palms and forehead and her anxiousness and quickening breath grew even stronger.

As if things couldn’t get worse, she heard a soft _crunch_ of leaves from behind her. Turning her head, her eyes met directly with the masked figure, standing several hundred feet away, the broken crossbow in one hand. Gasping to herself, she swung open the car door open and threw herself inside, slamming the door behind her. Her fingers found the button to lock the doors, but the shelter of her car didn’t seem to faze her perpetrator.

He had broken into a sprint, raising his crossbow as he made his way towards her car. Knowing she had to act fast, Elsie unlocked the car door, resting her fingers on the handle in preparation.

She knew he’d try to break her window with all his force. As soon as he was close enough, Elsie sprang her door open, breaking his sprint and sending him towards the ground with a grunt.

Suddenly the sound of a vehicle rolling into the parking lot arose, and Elsie was out of her car and darting towards the far end of the parking lot, away from her car. The masked person, coming to his feet, noticed this. Most likely out of anger, he began to run towards her, not taking notice of his surroundings.

Elsie stood in place, her heart racing nervously. Just as he was getting close, he noticed something wasn’t right, but he seem to didn’t care. He was angry, and he wanted her dead. Part of Elsie wished he had decided to act with a little more thought. Just as he came near enough, she squeezed her eyes shut, hearing a loud thud and the sound of tires screeching to a halt.

She took the silence as cue to open her eyes, unsure if she was prepared. In front of her stood the red Chevy that belonged to Lucas. She gulped as her eyes wondered to its front, where the body of the person who tried killing her laid. Lucas stepped out, rounding its front and standing directly in front of the man he just hit with his truck.

“Is he-” Elsie choked, unable to bring herself to finish her sentence.

“No,” Lucas replied, checking his pulse. He met her eyes. “I hope your dad supplies you enough money to fix this,” he commented sarcastically as he stared at his dented truck.

“Why’d you come back?” she asked.

“Well, I actually never left. I was parked further down the road, waiting for you, just to make sure you made it back safely. You took forever, I knew he was gonna wake up soon… yeah,” he sighed deeply.

Elsie bit her lip. “He slashed my tires,” she said flatly.

Lucas nodded. “Okay, well. Looks like you have no choice,” he said as he made his way to the passenger side’s door, pulling it open.

“How do I know you’re not working with him?” she spoke quickly, showcasing her doubt.

“Then you should feel bad for him having such a shitty partner,” he responded dryly.

“You know what I mean. How do I know you’re not a part of that everyone?”

He took a minute to respond. “You don’t.”

Elsie stared at the open door, thinking twice about her actions. All week, she’s found herself making decisions that put her in an uncomfortable position, ones that contradicted her whole idea of living comfortably in her quiet world, and the door propped open in front of her seemed to be some sort of boundary breaker—a deal setter—one that would lead to something completely different.

Was this world new? No. But it was foreign to her. All along she knew it was there, hidden deep inside of her, but she always pretended it didn’t exist. She was afraid that if she ever truly acknowledged it, her whole life would cave right under her.

Avoiding Lucas’ gaze and keeping her eyes glued to her tennis shoes, she reluctantly headed into his truck, shutting the door behind her.


	6. LEAPING

Not often did Elsie find herself in a situation where she had to pack everything she’s owned in under an hour. Or at least, the things she needed most, which was in her case, many things.

Upon accounting for all her things she deemed important, she quickly determined that taking all these things would mean she would be gone for a long time. Uncomfortable with that fact, she decided to re-pack her luggage. There was a good bit of her clothes, money, shoes, hygiene products, personal mementos, chargers, earbuds, her laptop, camera, etcetera—all messily dumped out of her suitcases and sprawled among the white carpet of her bedroom. She paused, examining the crime scene she managed to make in about ten minutes. If she were to leave it, it would cause even more concern about her whereabouts. Deciding she had no time, she went with a smaller suitcase, loading it with what a normal person would actually deem essential. No, she did not like the idea of being gone with this random man for too long, but she still needed a _lot_ of things—especially if he turns out to be someone he’s not.

“Do you really need all that?” he questioned from his truck, mostly eyeing the stuffed bunny clinging to her arm.

She looked down at all her stuff, deciding if it was all worth it. She looked back up at him. “You should’ve seen what I almost brought.”

She lugged her things to the trunk, tossing them into its bed. She headed to the back seat, swinging it open and tossing in her blanket and pillow, as well as her stuffed bunny. It all felt so surreal. She wanted to believe that this was temporary with all her heart, but the fact that she had almost cleaned out her room didn’t help.

“Come on. You really didn’t need that… thing,” Lucas made a face as he picked up her stuffed bunny.

Elsie made a face as she stepped into the front seat, yanking it from him. “You leave Ron alone.” Ron always came with her to sleepovers and extensive trips.

“ _Ron_ ,” he mocked as he began to back out of her driveway.

Once on the road, Elsie felt uncomfortable under their awkward silences. On the regular, she would make small talk and get to know someone, but this was not the regular. She still didn’t trust in him. Every little move he did, she kept her eyes on him, making sure she’d be prepared in case this was a mistake. From what she could tell, this probably was.

“So,” Elsie spoke up after a while of silence. “Would you like to explain yourself?”

He cleared his throat. “No.”

Elsie took this almost as a slap to the face. Usually when she asked for something nicely, people almost always complied. It always nerved her when people were bluntly rude to her for no reason. Especially in her situation, it’s the least he could do.

“What do you mean _no_?”

“I’m just answering honestly,” he began, now driving into a town outside Atherton. “Can I explain myself? Yes. But do I want to? No.”

“At least tell me where we’re going.” She was too tired to argue, considering she was just out for a run before everything went south.

Lucas sighed, bringing a hand to his forehead and dragging it slowly down his face. He seemed hesitant to respond. It didn’t take her long to figure out why he was so reluctant to answer her questions.

“You don’t know, do you?”

“Well, what did you expect? I’d just have a master plan the second you demand that I take you with me?”

“Oh my god,” Elsie groaned.

“You know, you’re actually really ungrateful considering I just saved your life, _twice_.”

“Hey, the last one was a team effort,” she corrected.

“You’re welcome,” he interjected as he pulled into a Walmart parking lot. He turned abruptly to Elsie, clearing his throat right before his gaze met hers. Her breath unexpectedly hitched as his brown analyzing eyes squinted at her. He was a scary man.

Okay, he was attractive—very attractive. She hated herself for admitting it, and also Mara for putting the thought in her head. She quickly dismissed it. Scary overrules attractive.

“I’m going inside to buy somethings—before you get curious and start asking more questions. Stay here,” he ordered as he pushed open his door.

“What am I supposed to do?” she called as he was about to close his door.

“I don’t know, hide? Don’t make your face visible,” he suggested as he slammed the door.

“Great,” Elsie sighed as she sunk into her seat, sighing. Her fingers found the lock button, jamming it down as she pulled her seat all the way back. Instinctively, she pulled out her phone, mindlessly flipping through different social media platforms. Everything was seemingly normal. She had a few notifications from some friends, the most notable of them being Mara and Tyler. She sighed, wondering if she should answer. Telling them was out of the question. The phrase _trust no one_ rung loudly in her thoughts, making her want to laugh. “This is ridiculous,” she said under her breath. Last time she checked, she wasn’t in the FBI.

It wasn’t long until she heard the sound of the driver’s side door jerking, as if he expected the door to be unlocked. Elsie peeked out the window before unlocking it. Still, she was overcome with the weirdness of being in this man’s vehicle. She almost felt dirty. Lucas hopped in, placing several plastic bags between them and pulling out a hat and a pair of aviator sunglasses.

“That’s for you,” he said as he started his car.

Elsie took the red cap labeled _California_ in cursive letters in her lap, then the blue tinted aviator glasses. “Thanks,” she said quietly as she slipped them on, weirdly feeling a little bit guilty for her behavior earlier. She hated herself for being such a people-pleaser sometimes.

“Where are we going?” she asked, almost defeatedly. She resolved having a demanding tone wouldn’t solve her problems, let alone get her anywhere.

“A motel,” he answered, not giving further clarification.

“Is that all you’re gonna tell me?” she pushed further. Lucas’ annoyed face quickly appeared. Before he opened his mouth to speak, Elsie quickly interrupted. “No, you don’t get to be annoyed and act like I’m being a bitch by wanting answers. I’m sure if people were trying to kill you for no fucking reason, you’d be the same, probably worse,” she continued. “So yes, thank you, thank you for saving my life twice, thank you for taking whatever initiative you’re taking right now, but you can’t just hold me here and not tell me anything.”

“I’m not annoyed,” he quickly refuted. “I’m-”

“Inconvenienced? I can leave _right now_.”

“No. It’s just hard to explain.”

“You sure? You seem to be enjoying putting me on the spot, don’t know why you can’t take it,” she said, hinting at the Smirnoff incident.

“What are you talking about?”

“What are you actually doing?” she shifted in her seat, facing him as she continued. No way in hell did he have honest intentions. “You tell me you were stalking me-”

“Wasn’t stalking.”

“ _Stalking_ me to protect me. But what about that vodka bottle? Was that a little joke of yours to get me in trouble?”

His eyes narrowed as if he’d heard the most obscure thing in the world, keeping his eyes on the road. “I’m sorry, a vodka bottle?”

“Yes. The one you left outside of my room.”

“The only time I’ve ever been in your house was that time you let me in,” he countered. “Do you really think I’d risk your alarm system?”

Elsie sat quietly, thinking how anyone else would get through it and to her dad’s comment on how ‘excellent’ their system was.

“When did this happen?” he asked, lowering the hostility in his voice after realizing her silence.

“I’m assuming sometime last night,” she paused, sighing. “I was on the phone with Mara, I heard a noise, so I locked my door. The next morning the vodka bottle was just standing outside of my door, empty.”

“Last night?”

She gave him a quizzical look. “You were there?”

“Yeah, I mean,” he stammered. “I had to make sure no one was, you know, trying to kill you.”

“My hero,” she commented sarcastically.

“No, I was doing my job,” he corrected, becoming slightly flustered.

“So you’re getting paid to do this?” It was her turn to be smart now.

“No, I’m not—that’s not the point. I was outside your house that night, okay? And I saw a girl, maybe your friend, Mara I’m assuming, I don’t know. I saw her go into your house.”

“She didn’t come over that night,” Elsie stated, confused.

“Well, some girl was there, and in your house, all while apparently being on the phone with you, and the fact that she didn’t tell you seems a little…” He winced. “Psychotic.”

“You think she’s trying to kill me too?” Elsie questioned, almost laughing at how absurd the idea was.

“No, I mean, maybe she did put the bottle there, I’m assuming to get you in trouble. It could’ve easily been another girl, I don’t really know how your friends look like. But I can see why she’d try to kill you.”

“You still haven’t answered why people want me dead,” she said, choosing to ignore his last comment.

“Well, your attitude for starters-”

“ _Lucas._ ”

He sighed. “Okay, fine. But it’s a lot to take in, so, just breathe,” he said, taking in a deep breath himself. He glanced slightly to his right, then continued. “There is a script on your head for fifty million dollars,” Lucas blurted out.

“A _what?_ ”

“A script. It’s like a list, where rich people put stuff they don’t want to do and pay people money for it. And turns out, someone wants you dead. Like, _really_ wants you dead. So now, everyone who goes on this site knows about that, and a lot of people want the money,” he explained.

“Why would someone kill a human being for money? And why _me?_ ” Her head was spinning at the idea.

Lucas rolled his eyes. “Because people are poor, Elsie.”

“Well, yeah, but you shouldn’t kill someone because of it,” she replied, disgusted at the idea. She abruptly turned to him. “How the hell do you know about this?”

“Because,” he said, “I make my money off of that site too.”

Elsie’s jaw dropped. “You _kill_ people?”

“No, no,” he denied, “ _God,_ no. This website, it’s hard to find, but if you’re smart and not stupid enough to get yourself into something else, you can find it. It’s mostly just smaller crimes, but against ‘notable’ people. But I don’t kill people. I do minor things, like stealing a senator’s mail or vandalizing some congressman. But you don’t see murder on there that often, and when it’s on there, the reward is usually no more than five million dollars, which is why your script is getting such a big following. Killing a helpless eighteen-year-old girl? _Easy._ ”

She gave him a cold, dead look. Once again, her limbs were shaking and her breaths were becoming quicker and her heart beat was increasing rapidly to the point where she was becoming concerned that she’d cause her own death just by being petrified.

“Why,” she started, struggling to speak out of sheer anger, “the fuck, would _anyone_ want me dead so bad? Did I accidentally steal valedictorian from some pissed-off billionaire kid or something?”

“You’re the valedictorian?” he asked, raising a brow in surprise.

“That is not the point,” she rose her voice.

“Right, right, sorry. But isn’t it obvious? I mean, your dad…” his voice trailed off. She raised a brow at him, wondering what he was getting at. He returned a seriously concerned look. “You don’t know…” he said, more of a statement than a question. He took a quick glance at her, noticing her bewilderment. “Oh my god, you really don’t know. You actually believe he’s just an entrepreneur-slash-investor.”

“He _is_ ,” Elsie corrected.

“Oh, no, that’s not all,” Lucas argued. “The scripts, well, they’re run by somebody. And that somebody has to be a genius because every time this has been tried in the past it’s been found out by the feds. But no, not this time. It’s been going on for decades now, somehow managing to stay under the radar… and well…”

She heard his words but refused to listen. She kept her gaze locked on the road in front of them, unable to speak.

“That’s not true.”

“Elsie, why else…”

She shook her head, refusing to hear anything else he had to say. “You’re saying my dad runs this?” she said finally, still doubting him.

“Not just the scripts, but almost everything having to do with online organized crime. Your dad is like the cybercrime drug-lord. I’m sorry, I thought you knew…”

“Oh god,” she choked, feeling her eyes watering a little. She was sure she was either going to pass out or throw up. Probably both. “I’m a little too fucking oblivious to notice anything, apparently.” She pushed up her sunglasses slightly to wipe her eyes, removing any sort of proof that she was about to cry. She refused to show any more weakness than she already had.

“Wouldn’t he know about this, though? About people trying to kill me?”

Lucas shrugged. “Probably not. Since he runs multiple platforms, I’m sure he has moderators or something,” he spoke as he turned into a parking lot. “Plus, there wasn’t much information about who you are. It took some real digging to figure it out.”

She wrinkled her brows. “Do people know I’m his daughter?”

“No. Which is the weird part. A lot of people don’t know who your dad _really_ is. I feel like if they knew, _some_ people would back off. Not many, though. _Fifty million dollars._ ” Lucas stopped himself, aware that the end of his sentence would make her even more uneasy.

“How did you figure all this out?” Elsie asked, “You know, considering this information is supposedly top-secret.”

He didn’t respond at first. “I have my connections.”

Elsie didn’t like his response. She sighed anxiously. Her mind kept wandering off to habitual thoughts, the ones about having to finish her homework, what to cook before her dad got home, calling Mara or Tyler. Simple things, all which she refused to realize weren’t going to happen that night. It was like she was a robot on a loop, short-circuiting because she was beginning to question the nature of her . How was she supposed to just leave? Her dad would soon come home, her friends would try texting her, and here she was, sitting next to someone she barely knew (and was still skeptical about), in front of a crappy motel, about an hour after she had almost been murdered.

“We’re here,” he said awkwardly, breaking the silence in the truck.

Elsie’s gaze was locked in front of her, trapped in thought. She took a deep breath, then headed with him to the room.

The stench of old furniture invaded her nose as they stepped into the motel room. It consisted of a queen sized bed, chunky TV, stingy carpet, a small table with two chairs, an old recliner, and the mixture of floral patterns that seemed to date back to the 90s. Her skin crawled as she thought about having to sleep in that mattress tonight.

“You do realize I can afford something much nicer than this. And with at least more than one bed,” Elsie commented.

“Gotta stay under the radar, princess.”

She didn’t like being called princess.

Removing her sunglasses and cap, Elsie sat down on the mattress, disgust resting on her face. Regret continued to set in.

“Get your phone out,” Lucas said as he set his bag onto the seat, standing tall in front of Elsie. “Please don’t ask why,” he quickly added, crossing his arms.

Elsie reluctantly complied, pulling her cell phone out of her pocket and handing it directly to Lucas. He took it in his palm, feeling its weight.

“Is there anything you’d like to save on this before I toss it?” he asked.

Elsie scrunched her brows at him. “You’re not getting rid of my phone,” she stated. Deep down, she knew it was something people could track, yet it was still something she was unfortunately addicted to.

“Look, soon enough, people will be able to track this down,” he said, motioning to the thin tablet between his fingers. “I’m giving you one last chance.”

“Yes,” she replied, defeated. She took a minute to transcribe her important contacts on the Walmart receipt before resetting it. She stared at it one more time, as if reminiscing, before handing it back to Lucas. He stepped back towards the door, and out into the hallway that looked over the parking lot. They were three stories up, which seemed to be enough for him. Popping the phone out of its case, Lucas readied his arm.

“You’re literally going to toss it?” Elsie asked with a frantic voice, but not in time to stop him from chucking it off the balcony and far into the parking lot. The phone landed with several barely audible cracks.

“I’ll be sure to run it over when we get out of here,” he said as he came back inside, locking the door behind him.

He reached into the Walmart bag he had, pulling out a green cardboard box. Looking up at Elsie, he tossed it to her, followed by her catching it right between her hands. Elsie studied the box, now realizing it was a prepaid phone.

“I have one too, but I still have my cell phone. We haven’t been seen together yet, so I think I’m fine. For now.”

She nodded, unsure what to do or say. The whole situation was bizarre and last minute, and even though she found herself wondering about her family and friends and previous events, it seemed as though Lucas was playing the lead role in her mind. Something about him gave her a strong sense of uneasiness that made her feel weak in the stomach. She looked over at Lucas, who was now sitting on the table, engulfed in his laptop screen. He was typing away, and part of her wished she could see what all he was doing. She was convinced he was still hiding many things about himself.

“What’s your last name?” Elsie wondered out loud.

Lucas turned to look at her, unsure why she was asking him that. “Glover. Why?”

She shrugged. “I just realized I don’t really know anything about you, and here I am, trusting you with my life when you could easily take me out for fifty million dollars any second.” She sighed loudly as she fell against the mattress, her focus now resting on the ceiling.

“It’s just a phase. I’m sure most girls go through this when entering adulthood,” he replied sarcastically, fixing his gaze right back to his laptop screen.

Elsie laughed a slight, tired laugh. “What am I going to do about this—just run for the rest of my life? I don’t think you’d wanna stick around for that long.” The last of her words hit her harder than she expected. Even if she managed to stay alive somehow, who would ever want to associate themselves with her?

“See, that’s why we’re here, in this motel room. So I can figure this out and we can both get back to our lives.”

“You don’t need to, you know.”

“I know. But you have no idea what’s going on and leaving you to fend for yourself would… you know, kill you probably,” he said, “and I can’t live with that,” he then added under his breath.

Regardless of how disgusted she was with the bed and its sheets, Elsie found herself wrapping its blankets around her, as if she wrapped them tightly enough, no one would be able to touch her.

The words _thank you_ lingered in her lips, but she wasn’t sure to be thankful yet. She continued to let her mind wander, propping her cheek against a pillow. The room was silent besides the tapping on his keyboard. Maybe this was all a mistake, maybe she’d fall asleep and then he would kill her. Part of her wanted to run, go home to her dad instead. The other part knew that she never wanted to see her father’s face again.

Elsie shot up, a different idea in her head. “My dad—what you said about him—how do I know you’re not lying?” she questioned. “I want you to show me that he is who you’re saying he is,” she resolved. The man she grew up with was nothing like the man Lucas described to her.

“I can’t exactly show you…” he responded as he looked at her from his chair. “His identity is kept a secret.” Elsie frowned, knowing she was way too tired to get into it with him again.

“I honestly can’t imagine how you’re feeling right now, really. But I promise you, that’s just one tiny detail in this shit-show we’re about to encounter,” he said, which was ironically the nicest yet least comforting thing he’s said so far. “Get some sleep. If we’re going to be doing anything, it’s gonna be at night.”

Though it was only six in the afternoon, Elsie didn’t complain. She felt exhausted. “What about you?” she asked.

“I’m not tired,” he said as he leaned back in his chair, stretching his arms. “Go to sleep, and I’ll wake you up when I’ve got something.”

Even though she was still very uneasy, her exhaustion led her to comply silently as she let herself fall into a deep sleep.


	7. OBLIVIOUS

“Get up,” his voice rang through the room as she felt a slight nudge to her shoulder. Her eyes flew open, feeling temporarily confused as to where she was. Sitting up, Elsie was once again hit with the unfortunate truth of what has happened. For a brief moment, she felt as though it was all a dream. She wanted so badly to just go home, sleep in her bed, and live her old life.

The words _old life_ rung in her head louder than it should have. It’s been less than 24 hours and she’s already able to say that.

“What time is it?” she asked as she strained her eyes to see, reaching over for her glasses.

Lucas glanced down at his wrist. “12 AM. Let’s go, we don’t have much time,” he said as he headed towards the door. He appeared energized and more awake than she remembered before falling asleep.

Elsie swung her feet off the bed’s edge, slipping her socks on and carrying her tennis shoes in her hand. She headed towards Lucas, whose hair was visibly damp and had a distinctive shower smell. She frowned, wishing she had taken the time to shower, too. The running shorts and tank top she wore from the afternoon’s running didn’t make her feel as clean as she wished to be.

Once in the truck, Elsie buckled her seatbelt and sat quietly. She was sure Lucas was accustomed to her thousands of questions by now, but at this point she wanted to go back to bed. At least when she was asleep, none of this was happening.

Lucas had turned on the engine, backing it out of the parking lot and into the main road.

“There’s a GPS in one of the bags,” he spoke.

She reached into the back seat, looking through the bags until she found the box that encased the device. Most of the bags contained food, water, clothing, etcetera. It still made absolutely no sense to her why he was going through this sort of trouble to help her.

“When you get that on, put this address in,” he told her as he handed her a sticky note with an address. She squinted at it in the dim lighting of the truck.

“Oakland?” she questioned as she unboxed the GPS.

“Someone who lives there has information that can help us, and hopefully an easier solution,” he grimaced as his fingers tightened around the steering wheel. 

Elsie’s eyes lit up. “You found a solution?” she asked excitedly.

“Yes and no. It’s not something I’d want to do, and I doubt you would either. That’s why we’re heading to Oakland.”

Elsie thought for a moment, feeling skeptical as she punched in the address.

“Is it that bad?” she asked, visibly let down.

Lucas glanced to his right, feeling pity. “Yeah. Look, I won’t tell you unless there’s a better solution, and this guy, he’s smart. He probably has something better than what I can come up with,” he spoke, this time with a lot more sincerity.

Elsie sat back anxiously, keeping her eyes on the road. She decided she didn’t want to ask any more questions, or to speak for that matter. Her sparking nerves were already beginning to form in her fingertips and stomach—that same feeling she hated whenever it made its rare visits. It almost felt as though it was eating her alive. The endless road that lay ahead of them, the lights from the cities, the strangers passing by in different cars from different backgrounds, the new strangers it introduced and the old faces it left behind—all of it collected into something greater that she refused to acknowledge.

And Lucas. He was a constant reminder of what she was trying so hard to forget; he was a criminal who decided to put aside his reckless agenda to help her. The mysterious life he lived, all the unanswered questions and willingness (though reluctant at first) to drop everything and leave, it was all not only spontaneous, but it offered her an identity she was not able to keep. Her gazed remained forward, too stubborn to look anywhere else. The road was now coming to an evident inclination and her fingers gripped slightly tight around the door’s handle. So many things felt wrong about crossing the bridge. Squeezing her eyes shut, she began to have a mental debate with herself.

Was it worth it?

“Are you hungry?” Lucas asked, breaking their silence.

Her breath hitched unexpectedly. She shook her head briefly side to side, bringing herself back to reality. She placed her palm back onto her lap.

“Yeah, sounds good,” she said as she brought her chin to the window, keeping her gaze on the water.

About twenty minutes later, Elsie and Lucas were sitting across from each other in the far corner of a diner, holding menus up to their noses. Elsie was looking for all sorts of excuses to distract herself from Lucas, any sort of way to get herself not to talk to him.

One thing she disliked about herself was how awkward she could be at making conversation. She wasn’t bad at it; socializing was actually one of her strong suits, but when it came to certain people, such as ones who intimidate, scare, or were a bit too attractive to her, she couldn’t seem to find the right words to compose a proper sentence. And Lucas unfortunately seemed to be a mixture of the three.

“What can I get for you two?” a middle-aged woman greeted as she pulled out a pen and notepad. Elsie met her restless eyes and offered her a weak smile.

“I’ll take a chocolate shake and a water,” she said warmly, as though maybe if she could convince this random woman everything was fine, she could convince herself. She glanced quickly at Lucas, who had his finger on the menu as he read.

He cleared his throat. “A double bacon cheeseburger with a coffee,” he smiled as well, making sure to flash his white teeth. It took her a moment to realize he was mocking her previous attempt of being nice to the waitress. She wanted to kick him from under the table. The waitress’s eyes glanced from Elsie, then to Lucas, giving them a look Elsie couldn’t quite decipher. Sighing, the woman walked away. Elsie wasn’t sure how to feel about it.

Several minutes later, the woman returned with their drinks. Lucas took no time in dunking a pack of sugar into his coffee, taking a small sip before he began to stir it with the straw.

“Elsie,” he finally said after a few moments. She looked up at him, only to see his attention remained on his straw. “It’s… weird. Your name,” he spoke as his eyes briefly met hers. “Short for Elizabeth?” He leaned back comfortably in his booth, crossing his arms.

“Obviously,” she responded, knowing full well he already knew her name.

“Most Elizabeth’s I’ve met go by other things.”

“I have multiple nicknames,” she stated clearly, not bothering to elaborate. His eyes met hers in curiosity, as if waiting to hear them.

“What are they?” he finally asked. 

“Well,” she started, placing her chin on her fist, knowing it was about to get complicated. “I never go by the real thing. Elsie’s the default at this point. Mara and my dad call me El. My boyfriend calls me Liz. Sometimes people opt for Lizzy—usually my boyfriend or people trying to annoy me.”

He raised his brows. “Ah, _the_ boyfriend. The one that left you that-” he stopped midsentence, motioning to his neck. Elsie frowned.

“What’s his name? Chad? He seems like a Chad.”

“Tyler.”

“Even better.”

“God, you’re so stereotypical,” she groaned, rolling her eyes. Just as she thought she was becoming comfortable around him, he ruined it.

“I’m the stereotype? Come on. You people are so predictable,” he began.

“ _You people?_ ” she scoffed. “You don’t know me.”

His lips pressed into a fine line, shrugging. “I guess you’re right. I don’t know you. But what I have learned from you these past couple of days is that you like your own little comfortable bubble. You might tell yourself you’re not stereotypical, and maybe you’re not, but that’s just the way you like to live. It’s easier being the common white girl with your riches and extra rich white boyfriend who gives terrible hickies.”

Out of the many things he had uttered that had offended her, one thing caught her attention. “I’m not white,” she spoke evenly, as if that one aspect was something to be proud of. Because it was. Proving him wrong felt like she deserved a trophy.

He raised a brow.

“My dad, well, stepdad, is white, but my mother was Colombian.” It felt odd to her referring to her dad as her stepdad. She had never met her real dad, and her stepdad had raised her since she was four. “And I know my real dad was Mexican. So…” she trailed off as she took a sip of her chocolate shake. It provided a sweet flavor to the bitter conversation she was enduring.

He nodded slowly. “You don’t seem-”

“I know—well, I know Spanish, she raised me up until I was about ten years old. I don’t really associate myself with the—my—culture anymore. It reminds me too much of her,” Elsie’s voice hitched as she lowered her voice, her eyes finding anywhere but his direction to keep her distracted. The last thing she wanted was to open up to this man. She knew if they were going to work together on this, they would have to get together in some shape or form eventually. She just didn’t want that to happen now, during his asshole-ness. They sat quietly as they waited for their food, her eyes glued to her fingernails as she cleaned the dirt from under them. She pretended that she couldn’t feel his guilty eyes on her. The topic of her mom coming up brought a strange wanting for him to feel bad for his attitude. She shook the thought from her head. _Does she really want him to pity her?_

“Here you go,” Elsie heard the waitress say, along with the clunk of a plate. “Need a refill on that coffee, young man?”

“Yes, please,” Lucas replied impassively.

Clearing her throat, Elsie lifted her face, making sure she lacked emotion. “Can I make those calls now?” she asked. Merely asking him permission to make a call felt so degrading. Her appetite seemed to have disappeared.

“Go ahead,” he replied, averting his eyes.

Sliding out of the booth, Elsie padded towards the cashier where their waitress stood idly on her phone.

“Can I use your phone?” Elsie asked.

The woman looked up at her, chewing the corner of her lip. “What, don’t all you kids have phones these days?” the woman asked.

“Mine, uh, died.”

The woman looked at her, then towards Lucas, then back at her. “Did you fight with the boyfriend? Looked pretty heated back there,” she asked.

Elsie gave her a hard stare, causing the woman to raise her brows and reach behind the desk. The woman promptly handed her a landline.

Elsie walked a little away from the woman and closer to their booth but stayed just enough away to not be heard by Lucas. Hopefully. She took a seat on one of the bar stools.

She pulled the Walmart receipt she had scrawled all her phone numbers onto out on the bar, spinning back and forth as she punched in the numbers for Tyler. Pressing the phone against her ear, she waited through the dull rings until he picked up.

“Hello?” his familiar voice answered.

Elsie smiled a bitter-sweet smile, feeling the urge to cry. It hadn’t even been a full day since she’s been gone, but hearing him felt like it would be a very long time until she’d be able to hear him again, let alone see him.

“Hey,” she finally said. “It’s Liz.”

“Oh god, where are you?”

“So it’s already out?” she asked, her voice small.

“What do you mean _it_?” he questioned.

“Me… being gone.”

“Where are you? Your dad says you haven’t come home. He’s called me and Mara to see if you’re with any of us and your phone is off and—you’re okay, right? I mean it hasn’t been that long or anything but it’s just… he said all your clothes and things were missing.”

“Yeah, I know, but something came up and… I can’t come home. Just know that I’m not missing, and I don’t want to be looked for, so don’t let my dad try to call any search parties or whatever.”

There was silence on the phone before Tyler spoke again. “Liz, what are you talking about?”

“I can’t… I just can’t tell you. And I can’t come home. I don’t know when I’ll be back-”

“You can’t just _leave_ and not tell me. Is something wrong?”

There was a pause. Yes. Yes, there were many things wrong and she had wished desperately to just be able to come home at the end of the night, but she was stuck at a fork in the road where the only two options were to be killed or to run. She sighed.

“No,” she lied. “Well, I’m not sure. It’s not too bad, like life-or-death, you know,” she lied again. “It’s really complicated. And,” she paused, taking a look back at the booth where she had been sitting moments ago. Lucas was eating quietly, occasionally glancing in her direction. “I’ll tell you, okay? Just not now. Now isn’t a good time.”

“Liz.”

“Just promise me you won’t come looking for me unless I ask you to, okay? I promise you that next time I call you, I’ll tell you everything,” she whispered, her heart pounding. She knew Lucas didn’t want her to tell anyone, but she also knew not telling Tyler would cause her to lose him.

“Fine. When will you call me?” he asked.

“Soon, hopefully.”

“Okay. Be safe, all right?”

“I will.”

“I love you,” his voice echoed.

“I love you, too,” she spoke just before ending the call.


	8. DISGUSTING

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: sexual assault insinuation/uncomfy situation

After about thirty more minutes of driving, Lucas and Elsie found themselves in Oakland, minutes away from their destination. It was almost 2 AM, and the subject of talking was left to fend for itself back at the diner.

It wasn’t until they were on a gloomy street that only seemed to offer overflowing trash bins and buildings peeling from old paint from run down businesses did Elsie want to start talking again. Maybe he finally came to realization that there was no point in helping her, or that fifty million dollars was a much better deal than lugging her around. Either way, fear for her safety made her skin crawl at the thought of being both inside his truck or outside on the street.

He parked in an available parallel parking spot, just in front of some apartments.

“Where are we?” she asked.

“Some place that will give us answers,” he said as he hopped out. Elsie stayed glued to her seat, unable to find the motivation to open the door. It wasn’t until Lucas opened it for her that she was faced with having to actually exit the truck.

Lucas held out his hand, an unexpected gesture. Hesitating, she took it, greeted by its firm warmth. Her tennis shoes met the wet pavement, and she walked beside him, not letting go of his hand.

“Before we go in,” he spoke quietly, keeping his face forward and impassive. “I need you to play along, and stay very, _very_ close. I don’t trust this man.”

Elsie’s heartbeat quickened. “You think he’ll try to kill me?” she asked.

Lucas grimaced. “No. But worse, probably.”

She was left with that as soon as his knuckles met the door. Her hand squeezed his tightly, drawing in closer as the door swung open.

“Hey man,” a man, well, incel walking-stereotype, more like, greeted them. He was an ugly, neck-bearded, giant man. His sausage finger pushed up his glasses and brought his headset around his neck just before reaching an arm out to him. Lucas shook his hand, and from spending the last couple of hours with him, she could tell he regretted it.

“Hey, this is my girlfriend, El,” he spoke, his voice and stature showing no weakness.

Elsie’s natural instinct was to argue with that statement, but at this moment, that felt like the correct title.

The man’s eyes met her direction and widened. “Why hello there, Beautiful. I sure have heard a lot about you,” he winked as he reached his hand out to her.

Lucas cleared his throat. “Ahem, Fazer. Remember what I said?”

His hand immediately went down. “Yeah, sorry Luke. Anyone but your girl,” he said disappointedly. “Come on in.”

Elsie’s eyes met Lucas’ as she mouthed _Fazer_ to him like it was some sort of joke. He shrugged.

“His name is actually Craig,” Lucas whispered as he stepped inside, bringing Elsie along.

They stepped inside of his cave, which had obviously not been cleaned in weeks. She shuddered at the thought of even spending time in this place for more than several hours.

“You know, Luke, from all these years of knowing you I’ve never heard the mention of any girl. I just assumed you were either really lonely or just quiet about it. Turns out you’re just quiet about it,” Fazer commented.

Elsie glanced in Lucas’ direction, where his cheeks showed the slightest sign of turning faintly pink. He didn’t respond.

Once in a room that appeared to be a crossover of some sort of a living space, bedroom, and computer room, Fazer sat on a computer chair, cracked his knuckles, and spun around.

“Go ahead and sit down, get comfortable—sorry it’s a bit of a mess,” he smiled weakly as he spun towards his computer.

Lucas took a seat on the small couch, leaving some space for Elsie. She would’ve continued to stand, but she didn’t want to be anywhere near this man. Even though she hated the idea of him ever being her place of safety, she chose to make an exception in Fazer’s premises. She quickly sat down directly next to Lucas, leaving no space between them.

“So,” Fazer began as he clicked on his keyboard. “You’re telling me that people are after this wonderful lady?” He swiveled back and forth casually.

Lucas pressed his lips into a fine line. “Yes.”

Fazer promptly cleared his throat, swiveled his chair around to face them, and stared. His eyes bore, directly scanning Elsie, who was now beginning to regret not wearing some jeans and a t-shirt rather than her running shorts and tank top.

“Hey,” Lucas spoke up after several long seconds. Fazer’s eyes then met Lucas.

“You said I can’t touch her, and I’m not. That’s your job,” he laughed.

“So is staring, so stop,” Lucas demanded.

Elsie hated not being able to speak up for herself. Who knew what this man would do if she so much as opened her mouth.

Fazer shrugged. “I mean, if you want the information…”

Lucas’ face hardened. “Dude. No.”

Elsie quickly turned to Lucas, her eyes wide and brows furrowed.

“What is he implying?” Her heartbeat was picking up as she evaluated the situation. She was in the middle of Oakland—a place completely foreign to her—inside of a shitty apartment with a man who held obvious intentions for her. A familiar feeling crept inside of her, one she desperately hated.

He turned to Elsie, then back to Fazer.

“He’s not implying anything. He’s going to tell us what he’s found out, and we’re going to thank him, then leave,” Lucas replied.

Fazer’s smile dropped, as if just realizing how wrong he was.

“Okay,” he started, swinging back towards his computer. “I couldn’t find much, because I’m sure whoever it is that posted this script is high maintElnce and probably keeps people watching, but I did find out his name and a safer place to get help,” Fazer spoke.

“Great,” Lucas said.

“Well, not his name, but what he goes by, which is good enough. He goes by Ace, like the card. And I was also able to come across a resistance—not the feds—who are actually interested in helping people who, you know, are like your girlfriend.”

“Where is it?” he asked.

“It’s in Palm Springs, I’ve got the address right here,” Fazer said as he flipped open a nearby notebook and scribbled in an address. He promptly ripped out the page and handed it to Lucas.

He smiled an unsympathetic smile as he took the sheet from his hand. “Thanks,” he said as he stood up. Elsie followed.

“That’s all I get? A thanks?” Fazer called once they were near the door. Lucas sighed.

“You said you’d help, I don’t remember you saying anything about a price,” Lucas said, becoming visibly annoyed.

“It’s an implied task.”

“What do you want?” Lucas asked as he dragged his hand down his face. “Money?”

“I was thinking she could do something for me,” Fazer grinned. “Or you. I don’t mind watching.”

Elsie had to stop herself from puking in her mouth. People like him were absolute scum, and she wanted nothing more than to leave.

“Lucas,” she said under her breath. “Why didn’t you mention this guy’s a fucking lunatic?”

“She’s fine,” he said to Fazer.

Fazer frowned, his screen reflecting off of his glasses in the dark room. “I just risked a bunch of shit researching for you two, and she’s _fine?_ That bitch will probably be dead by tomorrow. Might as well thank me _somehow_.”

“Craig-”

“ _Fazer._ ”

Lucas rolled his eyes. “Fazer. She doesn’t want to, okay? Get over it. We’re leaving.”

“Who gives a shit if she doesn’t want to?”

The words lugged a heavy silence along with it as Fazer said that, hitting Elsie like a truck. This man was truly sick. Lucas seemed to be unfazed by his crude remarks.

“Unlike you, I personally think sex is better when she actually wants you—not that you’d get how that feels,” Lucas spoke flatly.

Fazer’s face hardened. “Either you two _do_ something, or I tell everyone you’re carrying the fifty million dollars they desperately want.”

Lucas raised a brow. “Fuck off.”

Just as he said it, he grabbed Elsie’s arm and headed towards the door. She hated herself for clinging to him helplessly. It made her feel weak.

“Oh, fuck you, Luke!” they heard Fazer scream as he opened the door. “I’d kill her if you weren’t here! I’d slit her throat then-” his words were immediately interrupted by Lucas slamming the door.

Both ran towards his truck, taking no time to jump in. Once he started the engine, they were both out of the neighborhood and out of his sight.

Besides the heavy breathing, silence hung heavily between them. Elsie tried to keep her mind off of that hideous man by focusing on the sound of the engine and the fact that the longer they drove, the further away they were from him.

“I’m sorry,” Lucas apologized after a while.

Elsie didn’t respond. She was still shaken up, wondering what would’ve happened had they stayed.

“I know I shouldn’t have brought you in there with me, but that was the only way he’d give us any information.”

Elsie frowned. “You knew he was going to try something?”

“Well, yeah. He spends a _lot_ of time on the dark web watching… videos. Awful, very illegal videos. He’s an actual pile of shit.”

“And you just-”

“Yeah, I know. But he’s scared of me. I knew he wouldn’t try anything because he knows I’d hurt him.” It was silent for a little longer.

“Can you put in the address, please?” he asked. “Make sure it’s on backroads.”

Elsie took the slip of paper, punching in the address into the GPS.

“Please don’t let me do that again,” Elsie said silently.

“Do what?”

“Don’t let me be completely helpless.”

He drummed his fingers along the steering wheel as he drove.

“I won’t. I promise.”

Steam hung thick in the hotel bathroom as tiny hot bullets of water beaded against her back. She sighed, knowing this felt much needed. It had only been a day and this was about the millionth time she felt that she needed time to clear her head.

Stepping out of the shower, she slipped on some pajamas and a t-shirt before exiting the bathroom and into the hotel room. The room they were in wasn’t exactly something high-maintElnce, but it wasn’t too bad either: it consisted of two full-sized beds, a small couch, TV, and other furniture.

Upon entering, Elsie was greeted with Lucas passed out on the bed. It was only about six AM, but Elsie could calculate that he’s been awake for many, many hours. After they had left Fazer, they spent some time driving towards Palm Springs.

She shook the thought away as she climbed into the bed. Squeezing her eyes shut, she decided to console herself.

_It won’t be long. You’ll find a solution, you’ll go home, be with Tyler and Mara and college will start and everything will be normal again._

It only slightly scared her that normal was becoming less and less appealing.


	9. DANGEROUS

The radio never played good songs. At least, not when Lucas decides to take backroads and the only stations available are Bible story role-playing and static. It was only 7 PM, and though they have only been driving for a little more than an hour, Elsie couldn’t find the energy to put up with their silence.

“Do you think anyone is worried?” Elsie asked out loud, surprising herself.

Lucas made a thinking sound. “Yeah. Worried someone else will get the fifty million dollars.”

“You know, I could actually die over this.”

“Me too,” he said, drawing his lips into a fine line. “And I’m not even worth a prize,” he muttered.

Elsie groaned as she laid her cheek on the island separating their seats.

“I don’t think I’ve ever stayed away from home this long,” she spoke aimlessly as she toyed with the stereo in a desperate attempt to find a station.

“You haven’t done _a lot_ of things,” he commented.

Elsie immediately sat up. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Here we go again…” his voice trailed off. His hands were hanging loosely on the steering wheel as he kept his gaze forward.

“I don’t know. Things are just easier if you just…”

“Don’t do anything,” he raised his brows as he took a quick glance at Elsie.

Her face fell into a frown. As much as she wanted to argue, it was true. Pushing boundaries was too risky for her.

Leaning back, Elsie rested her legs on the dashboard. Her fingers skimmed the edge of her denim shorts, tugging at them so they’d get a tiny bit longer. She wore yellow converse, an old band t-shirt, and her hair hung long and free from a ponytail. It was quite the change from sweaty athletic shorts and regret.

“Music would be nice right now,” she said after a while.

“Is the word of God not enough for you?”

“I wish,” she groaned. “And I’d have my phone if _someone-_ ”

“Don’t blame me. You know full well you had to.”

“It’s just… quiet.”

Lucas sighed. “Just play something from mine,” he said as he reached into his pocket, pulling out his phone. She suddenly missed having her own.

Tapping the music app, she scrolled through all the different songs he had. His library ranged from rap to alternative to rock, which actually surprised her by how much songs they had in common. She silently cheered to herself, not wanting to let him know how happy it made her feel to know they basically had the same taste in music.

She chose a song she knew, letting its familiar sounds spring into the once quiet air surrounding them. Elsie had been so dependent on music in her past that merely listening to a song made her feel just a little bit safer.

Leaning her head against the window, she let the rest of his songs lull her into a light sleep.

Throughout the ride, Elsie was falling in and out of sleep. She’d wake up during certain songs or bumps in the road or occasional questions Lucas had—but it was one thing that really concerned her that caused her to fully wake up.

“Oh god,” Lucas began, a hint of a gasp in his voice.

“What?” she asked, turning away from the darkening sky and towards Lucas, his face full of fear.

“The GPS… it’s just been acting funny for a while and now I think…”

“You think what?”

“I think we’re fucked.”

Elsie gave him a dead look. “You’re kidding.”

“Am I laughing?” his voice rose with worry.

“Calm down, how long has it been like this?” Elsie asked as she examined its screen. The words NO SIGNAL were displayed.

“It’s okay I just-”

“How long.”

“I know what it said before-”

“ _How fucking long Lucas?_ ”

“More than an hour.”

Elsie’s jaw dropped. “We’ve been off course for over _an hour?_ And we have _no signal?_ ”

“Look, it’s been going on and off, and every time it turned on it gives me a different route.”

Words were quickly beginning to spill out of their mouths now.

“You’re actually trying to kill me,” Elsie’s breath began to quicken.

“No it’s just-”

“You’re just poor and I’m annoying and fifty million dollars just sounds _really_ good right now-”

“ _El_ _._ I swear-”

“And _fuck_ me for even thinking you’d put up with me-”

“I mean, it’s difficult but I wouldn’t _ever-_ ”

“I’m gonna die. This is what it’s like. The end.”

Lucas quieted for a moment as Elsie continued.

“Hey,” he started in an attempt to end her rambling. “God, El, shut up.”

Elsie looked up at him, noticing the speed of the truck slowing down and his eyes a little hopeful.

“Los Padres National Forest,” Lucas read off of a sign.

Elsie now took account of all the trees that had been surrounding them the past several minutes, and suddenly a light bulb turned on in her head.

“ _Los Padres National Forest_ ,” she began excitedly. “I’ve been here. My dad—yes! We have a cabin that we used to stay here all the time with my mom. Even after… I actually,” she stopped herself, looking out the window and at the sign. “It’s about twenty minutes from here. I know where we’re at!”

All the excitement vanished when a set of bright headlights turned on right behind them. Elsie and Lucas looked at each other with confusion, then turned slightly to what seemed to be another truck stopped behind them.

Lucas quickly began to drive, and the truck behind them followed.

“You don’t think…” Elsie started, thinking of the worst.

“I don’t know. Maybe they’re just driving around here,” Lucas hoped.

“Then why would they just now turn on their headlights?”

Lucas didn’t answer, but merely concentrated on driving. Once again, Elsie began to slightly shake with nervousness, trying to find anything to calm her down. A song started playing, she couldn’t remember the name, but it was a rap song, and it wasn’t helping.

As Lucas sped up, so did the truck behind them. It reached the point where it was tailing them, almost hitting them at times.

Out of those many times, the truck was successful in ramming into the back of the truck, sending them both forward.

“Jesus-”

“Oh my god,” she gasped with fear, now feeling her heart sink.

“Hey, calm down, okay? Being scared isn’t going to fix this. We need to do something,” Lucas spoke with a surprisingly focused tone.

Meanwhile, Elsie was unable to move any limb in her body. Everything felt so heavy and her alertness forbade her from doing so much as nodding in Lucas’ direction.

“I need you to grab the steering wheel,” Lucas said.

“What?” Her heart was now beating ten times faster than it had been before. “What the hell are you trying to do?”

“Trust me, okay?”

Reluctantly complying, Elsie’s hand gripped the steering wheel, keeping her eyes on the road in front of them. Feeling the truck’s speed increasing, Elsie noticed they were now hitting the 90s. Lucas had laid his seat all the way back, searching for something in the backseat.

“Fuck, I can’t reach without taking my foot off the gas… you’re going to have to do it,” Lucas said.

“Do what? Press the gas?”

“No, I need you to get the toolbox from behind me, pull something out, and throw it at whoever’s behind us.”

She looked at him like he was insane. “You’re fucking crazy—we’re gonna get _killed_.”

“Only if we let them. Please, we don’t have much time before he tries something again. Just get the box, open the window, and keep throwing until you’ve hit something. The faster I go, the harder it’ll hit him.”

“I can’t… I can’t do that…” Everything was beginning to feel heavy again. The gravity of the situation kept her from thinking clearly and everything in her body was screaming at her to stop.

“Yes you can,” he began to raise his voice. “Look, whatever it is that’s stopping you, throw it away, don’t think about it. For once, just stop thinking, and _do_ it.”

Swallowing hard, Elsie searched in the back for his toolbox. She found a small, rectangular box just below his seat, then quickly pulled it out. She opened it to reveal a collection of silvery metals, some heavier than the rest. The first item that caught her attention was the hammer. Picking it up and feeling its weight, Elsie decided to use it first.

Lucas gave her an unsure look. She breathed in deeply.

“Go big or go home.”

Elsie turned to her window, only to be interrupted by Lucas.

“You need to hit the driver’s side. You’ll have to throw it from my seat.”

Elsie gulped as she stretched across his seat, trying her best not to cover the road for him. She found herself sitting directly on top of him, her head sticking out of the window. Lucas shifted the truck mostly towards the shoulder, giving Elsie a better view. Once she had a good aim, hammer in hand, she put all her effort into a throw. The hammer swung into the air for a slight moment before piercing the windshield directly, sending cracks along its surface and causing the truck to swerve wildly.

“Holy shit!” Elsie cried in victory as the truck began to swerve.

“You hit him! Oh my god you actually hit him!”

“Oh god,” Elsie’s mood quickly reversed back to terrified when the truck began to speed up even more, turning into the opposite lane.

“Hold on,” Lucas spoke. “Whatever he does, we have to do it first.”

He kept his eyes tentative as the truck pulled into the other lane. Elsie stuck her head back into the truck, squeezing her eyes shut as she leaned against Lucas’ chest, his shirt balled into her fist. Immediately she felt the truck swerve to the left with a jolt, and Elsie was screaming, cursing—everything.

The other truck was also hitting Lucas’ as well, and while Lucas was trying his best to handle the situation, Elsie clung, still screaming. She braced herself for the worst in Lucas's lap, as if somehow if something were to happen, she would be okay.

But she felt constant jolts and loud screeching of metal, indicating that the other person was now trying to run them off the road.

" _Shit,_ " Lucas yelped as she heard a shattering noise, suddenly letting go of the steering wheel.

Not having any time to realize what had happened, Elsie's hands found the wheel, immediately yanking it to the left.

Just as she thought, Lucas's truck slammed right into the other one, sending it off a ledge and into a ditch. She quickly took control of the steering wheel to make sure they were still on the road.

"Oh my god," Elsie breathed, completely taken aback by what she had done.

"Did you just..." Lucas's voice trailed off in astonishment. He began to slow back down.

"I-uh, yeah. I did." Elsie turned to face Lucas, who had a bleeding forehead. "What the hell happened?"

"Well, we forgot about this open window and he threw a glass bottle at me," he replied, now trying to focus on the road. She remembered the crash just before he cursed, now seeing the shards of glass around them.

They both then noticed how she was still sitting on him. Lucas shifted uncomfortably, and Elsie took this as a queue to get off.

"Sorry," she apologized as she jumped back into the passenger seat. She looked back at him. "You really need to clean that up," she commented as she examined the trickle of blood running down his forehead.

"Well, we can't stop driving now," he reasoned.

She turned back, looking in the distant, empty road. "What if someone else comes?" she asked, fear lingering in her voice.

"I mean, we can’t just pull over and sleep in the car. Besides, there's always gonna be more people as long as the script is up."

She was silent for a moment.

"Pull over."

He furrowed his brows. "No."

"Just do it. And turn off the truck so we can't be seen."

Lucas complied reluctantly. "That man could be back on the road, you know," he argued.

"I know where we're at, so let me drive."

Lucas thought for a moment. "No."

"Lucas," she pleaded.

"What if something happens?"

"Something did happen, and here we are, situation handled.”

She took another look back, noticing a set of headlights in the far distance.

"Someone's coming, and I know where to go. My dad used to take me to this cabin, like I told you, and we can go. Just let me drive," she pleaded.

"We've been driving in nothingness for almost half an hour. How the hell-"

"There should be a gas station somewhere, right? Once we get directions, it should be fine,” she reassured him.

He sighed, rolling his eyes. "Fine."

Quickly, they traded seats, Elsie now satisfied behind the steering wheel.

"You need some rest anyways. You might have a concussion or something," she said as she started the car.

"It's not that bad."

She gave him a look just before starting the car. “You tell yourself that now.”

“What’s really bad is that truck,” he mumbled.

“Hm?”

“He not only saw me, but he found the both of us. That means people probably know by now that I’m helping you.”

Elsie didn’t say anything. Instead, she focused on the road ahead of her, and how they needed to stop, just for a moment. They finally had a destination in mind—an endpoint—which was a whole lot farther than they had been the day before.

Fog began to appear on the road as the engine drove them further down south. She may have been dreading this trip since the beginning, but she has never felt any more ready.


	10. CABIN FEVER

Nothing’s really in the immediate area, except the occasional cabin and parking lot. She must’ve had been running on adrenaline, because now it’s subsided and she’s back to her anxious self. They’re out in public and Elsie’s got a giant, bright red target on her back.

Thinking back to her conversation earlier with Lucas, she felt terrified that Fazer most likely did leak his phone number out of anger. For now, Lucas had decided to disconnect his phone from any sort of connection. They’d decided to get rid of it somewhere along the way.

She felt for him, for a second, wondering what it was like to just throw your life down such a risky path for a stranger, which not only pushed her to question his intentions even more, but made her wonder what his past priorities were. Clearly, he didn’t have much to live for before this. She felt guilty for feeling that way, but she couldn’t afford not to.

They both exited the vehicle, parking it in the back corner of the gas station they’d finally found. Elsie once again wore the cap and sunglasses.

She took a moment to study her reflection before pursuing.

“Are the sunglasses too obvious?” she questioned.

Lucas squinted in her direction for a mere second before answering bluntly, “Yes.”

She was quickly caught off guard once she looked up at him, forgetting his bloody face and shirt. She opened her mouth to speak, wondering how to address his situation. He gave her a look.

“What?” he questioned. His mood swings were kicking in again, and she didn’t want to deal with it.

“Nothing,” she replied. He didn’t seem to hold much interest as to what caught her attention, responding to her worry by turning the other direction and towards the shop.

He was back to the same way he was since she’d met him: serious. She’d only seen him really ‘break’ seriousness when they’d almost gotten killed—really the only time she’s seen him show much emotion. It made her uncomfortable.

Slipping the glasses from her face and into her back pocket, she followed Lucas into the store. It wasn’t anything perfect—it reeked of dinge and appeared to have not been cleaned in months. She shrugged it off, knowing the state of the gas station shouldn’t matter, as long as they found a map.

Elsie began scanning the store, Lucas not leaving her side for a moment. She passed by the clerk, a middle-aged woman, who appeared to be bored out of her mind.

After some looking she found a rack displaying different maps. She excitedly looked up at Lucas, who showed no emotion once he met her overly-eager face. In fact, he appeared confused as to why she’d be excited for a map.

“What?” she asked. “Do you not understand how great this is? We get to go to my _cabin_. Plus we can ditch that shitty GPS of yours.”

“I _guess,_ ” he shrugged.

They took a moment to examine the different maps, taking one specific one for the area, as well as one that covered all of California. Elsie took a peek at another map, which stretched even further past California’s borders. She looked up at Lucas, almost asking him if they would have to use it.

“If it gets to that, I’ll kill you myself,” he waved her off as he pushed passed her and towards the clerk.

“Really?” Elsie called out to him as he walked away. “Lucas, where are you going?”

He turned back to look at her. “Right, I forgot that in the state of California, stealing is legal. What the hell else—”

“No, idiot,” she rolled her eyes as she marched towards him. “You may have just threatened to _kill_ me but there’s still blood all over your face like some kind of freak.”

He made a face that told her _oh, you’re right_ , but refused to say the words himself.

They both made their way through the aisles until they found a first aid section. Elsie took a moment to pick out specific brands, not discriminating against any form of aid that may help him.

“Look at us,” she smiled sarcastically as she held the first aid items. “Who would’ve thought?”

Lucas was not amused. He responded by turning in the opposite direction and towards the clerk.

Even though he didn’t say anything, he was right. They almost died. Lucas has blood on his face. The back and side of his car are beat up. People are now not only trying to kill her, but him as well if he gets in the way—which he has proven twice already that he will do.

They stood in front of the clerk, who seemed completely unfazed by the odd pair that Lucas and Elsie presented to her. A handsome young man, blood all over his face and shirt, and a young woman smiling by his side.

Right, Elsie tends to smile when she’s nervous.

The woman chewed on gum as she checked them out, not bothering to look up at them or speak to them, besides telling them that their price was twenty-six thirty-three.

Without a word, Lucas and Elsie headed to the truck, ready to map out what would be their trip to the cabin.

****

One thing that sucks about using a map is not really being able to tell how much time a trip will take, and all the math you had to do in order to figure it out. The math never really accounts for stop signs, slow-downs, or curvy roads where you had to drop the speed limit drastically.

Lucas also refused to let her patch him up in the car, saying that they couldn’t waste time. He probably just didn’t want her to touch him, she gathered. Which was fine, Elsie told herself she didn’t want to touch him anyways.

Lucas was driving this time, even though she insisted since she’s been around these parts before. As always, he got his way, and whatever he said went. She resorted to sitting her chin on her fist as she looked out the window and into the dark trees silently. They no longer had music.

Which she could not stand. At least with sound in the background, Elsie was able to distract herself from her thoughts. Now, looking out the window and into the dark night, she had no choice but to listen to her thoughts.

Her thoughts were all over the place, but consistent in fears. Even looking outside the window and into the forest, she was scared. She had no idea what lurked out there, and the different things to be paranoid about—there was just so many. Who could she trust? How long is this going to last? Will she ever be able to go back to school after this? Will there even be an after? At this rate, it didn’t seem like it. What it did seem like was that she was going to be killed, and Lucas was going to be dragged down with her.

She shuddered. All her life, death had never been so real. Her mom had died at a young age, but even then it didn’t feel like it feels now: petrifying. So petrifying, sometimes she feels like she couldn’t breathe and her heart would stop.

It was happening again. Her breathing was becoming difficult and her heart was pounding. She reached beside her, she didn’t know what for—anything, really—but found nothing but her sweaty palms on the cold leather of the seat.

She couldn’t breathe. _I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe._

She must’ve said it out loud or something because she could hear Lucas saying speaking from beside her. She couldn’t make it out, she was in a full blown panic.

“I’m so fucking scared,” she managed to say, her vision blurring with tears.

Soon a hand grabbed hers, pulling her in. She felt Lucas’s arms wrap around her, and he was saying something.

“I’m really scared too.” Was all she could understand.

Her head was all over the place to really think of a valid sentence, or to understand what was going on. She felt Lucas’s hand stroking her back in an effort to calm her down.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

Her face was buried in his chest, wondering how it got there.

“That’s a stupid question,” she replied, muffled against his shirt.

“I know. I just wanted to see if your panic attack subsided,” he said as he pulled away, looking down at her with concern in his eyes. His face was still bloody.

She gave him a confused look. “Panic attack,” she stated, thinking about the term.

“Yes. Ever had one before?” he asked.

Elsie now noticed he had parked on the side of the road.

“No,” she answered. It was true. That was definitely her first panic attack.

“I used to get them when I was a teElger,” he said as he started the car. “Usually either my mom or sisters would always just… try to console me, I guess.”

It was weird, hearing about his personal life. It almost felt like he didn’t have a background at all. He was just Lucas: cold, reserved, quiet, and born at age 20-something in California.

“Thanks,” she responded, now embarrassed. “I just realized I don’t know how old you are,” she thought out loud.

“Forty-two,” he responded, once again back to his regular self.

“Lucas. I can’t just be riding around with some dude a hundred years older than me,” she joked as she leaned back in her seat. This almost made him laugh. Almost.

“I’m twenty-three in June,” he responded.

“Damn,” she sighed. “You’re old.”

Lucas gave her a half smile but continued to focus on driving.

She was clearly deflecting, which was okay. Obviously, she shouldn’t allow herself to keep thinking about really anything.

“Maybe if I die of a panic attack, no one will win anything,” Elsie thought out loud.

“El, I would usually tell you to shut up at this point, but from the looks of it leaving you alone to your thoughts _will_ kill you.”

Elsie simply nodded.

“So I _guess_ I have to talk to you, or whatever,” he sighed, as if it were the worst thing in the world.

“Dying doesn’t seem that bad, then,” she muttered.

“What?”

“Nothing, nothing,” she spoke up. “What are we doing? Please, fill me in on the plan this time.”

“Well,” he started, “from the looks of it, either Fazer _did_ tell people about me, or that man has been following you for a lot longer than we thought. I don’t know. What I’m shooting for is settling down at the cabin for a while, maybe a day or two to get off the radar, and hopefully look into how this happened.”

She sat back uncomfortably, swallowing the lump in her throat. If Lucas were inevitably caught in this, and therefore would have to suffer with her, she would have to think of alternatives that would free him from having to be with her. She frowned at her only alternative, which was ditching him. Closing her eyes, she tried her best to not think while Lucas drove.

The road crunched from under the truck’s wheels as they entered the driveway of her dad's cabin. It's been years since she's been there, and suddenly a cool gust of memories rushed towards her. She couldn’t stop herself from shivering.

Once they parked at the cabin, everything seemed to be pitched black, aside from the stars burning extra bright as trees hovered tall over their heads. Paranoia ran hot through her veins. She couldn't describe any other place where she truly felt more alone. 

“This is it,” she said as opened her door. They were careful to park a little way from the cabin so that the truck wouldn’t be visible to anyone coming.

A grim aura surrounded the structure, making her even more uncomfortable being out here alone with someone she hardly knew. The darkness of the area didn’t help either. Once on the porch, Elsie cupped her hands around her eyes as she pressed herself against a window, peeking inside. Lucas followed.

“Wow…” he admired, scanning the lofty furniture that filled up the spacious living area. Elsie was suddenly hit with memories of her mom, sitting comfortably on the couch in her father’s arms while Elsie talked on and on. Ever since her mom had passed, she never thought she’d ever come back. She smiled bitter-sweetly to herself, remembering just how much she used to talk. It was like she’d never shut up—anything and everything was so interesting and wonderful to her.

“How are we getting inside?” Lucas asked.

Breathing in deeply and shaking herself out of the illusion, Elsie nodded as she headed towards the front door. It was locked by a passcode, which she still fortunately knew. It was hard for her to forget things that had to do with her mom.

The door clicked open, leaving the dark living space open for them to enter. Elsie hesitated, forgetting that not every corner had some villain ready to slice her head off. She winced at the thought as she proceeded to step inside, shutting the door behind them.

“First thing’s first,” she spoke to Lucas, making sure he wasn’t too far from her sight, “We lock everything and shut all the blinds. No one gets in or out, okay?” she ordered.

“Okay,” Lucas responded. It was too dark for her to see any facial expression he made, but she could tell he was not happy with being told what to do.

Elsie and Lucas went around the cabin, making sure each window and exit was locked, and they were not visible to anyone outside. It scared her to think about anyone possibly being out there; they were in the middle of nowhere. Thankfully, the cabin wasn’t nearly as big as her home.

After they were clear, Elsie turned on a lamp in the living room. She jumped at the sight of Lucas, forgetting about his bloody face.

“Jesus, Lucas, please, let me take care of that for you,” she looked up at him with concern.

“Thanks, but I can do it myself,” he responded as he began to turn away. He was quickly stopped by Elsie’s hand tugging his arm.

“I have the first aid stuff. Just sit down and let me help you, damn it.”

Lucas reluctantly complied. He took a seat on one of the shorter couches, Elsie sitting next to him. She dumped the plastic bag full of first aid contents on the space next to her, her fingers examining the different items she would need. She was no expert, but tonight was an exception.

She found some wipes and decided to start there. Turning to him, she awkwardly pulled out some wipes and brought it towards his face. Lucas shifted awkwardly.

“Does it still hurt?” she asked, dabbing the cloth onto his skin. It was mostly to draw away from how close she was to his face in that moment.

“A little.”

She couldn’t tell if Lucas was uncomfortable or not as she continued. She half expected him to recoil at her touch and stomp away like a little girl. To her surprise, he stayed still, only showing discomfort because of the pain. She continued dabbing at the blood.

“I’m sorry,” she said lightly as she finished up, drawing back to look at him. He looked back her, his face impassive.

“Please don’t be,” he spoke quietly. “I’m choosing to be here, you know that.”

Elsie rolled her eyes as she firmly placed her hands on both sides of his face, bringing his head lower for her to examine the wound.

“And I still wonder why.”

Studying the contusion that lay ugly on his forehead, Elsie winced as she thought about possible stitches, or glass remnants inside of it. She frowned, now realizing she may not be an expert anymore.

“I hope this doesn’t need stitches,” she began as she ripped open a box of jumbo band-aids. He opened his mouth to speak but seemed to decide against it. He seemed okay with whatever Elsie had in mind, as long as he was patched up.

After finishing, she drew back to examine his face, once again made uneasy. Was it because he was attractive? Intimidating? Both of those things, and the fact that they were alone in a cabin in the middle of nowhere, and her head is worth millions of dollars?

“What?” he asked, taking notice of her being in thought.

“I’m… just thinking.”

His gaze pressed harder. “About?”

“Nothing,” she lied. “How long are we going to be here? I’m not sure if there’s any food here.”

He drew his lips into a fine line, pressing a finger against his chin dramatically as he thought.

“Don’t know. I could set up my laptop and do some digging. See what’s going on. Then I’ll give you an answer.”

Elsie gave him a nervous smile. As much as she didn’t like him, she didn’t want him to shut himself out in a room with his laptop for hours. She wanted to be updated, informed, and most importantly, talked to. If he left her alone, the fear would eat her alive.

“Are you hungry?” she asked out of impulse.

He looked at her with what almost looked like sympathy. “You’re hungry,” he stated, as if he didn’t believe her. Again, he was right. There was no way Elsie could eat. She must’ve been visibly anxious because he drew in closer.

“I know it doesn’t look like it, but everything’s going to be okay. I promise you, I’ll do whatever it takes to get you out of this,” he spoke gravely as he met her eyes.

Something was different about the way he said it. It wasn’t that his statement lacked confidence or that he was making an attempt to console her, but there was a deep sense of pain hidden beneath his expression—one that made her wonder even more about him.

“Who are you?” she asked aloud, her voice not any louder than a whisper. He looked confused, not answering because he didn’t seem to know how to. “I mean,” she elaborated, “I don’t know anything about you besides your first and last name, and here we are, our second near-death experience and…” her voice trailed off.

His eyes wandered off as he bit his lip, thinking. “Well,” he began, leaning back into the sofa. “I don’t really know anything about you either.”

“You definitely know more about me than I do you,” she countered.

“I know that your dad is rich. You’re really smart, and Columbian,” he said ironically emphasizing her ethnicity. “I know your dad is actually just your stepdad, and he’s… a bitch. I know you have a lot of friends, but you only appreciate that one questionable girl… Mayra?”

“Mara.”

“Ah, Mara. And your boyfriend, Taylor, who’s also questionable.”

“Tyler,” she corrected again, rolling her eyes. “What about you?”

“What about me?”

“Where are you from?”

“New York.”

She leaned back as well, now taking in the satisfaction that it was her turn. “What was it like?”

He furrowed his brows at her. “Do you really wanna know?”

She nodded, a mocking grin on her face.

Lucas rolled his eyes but continued. “I was born in New Rochelle, parents still live there. I have two sisters, one older and one younger. I haven’t seen any of them in four years.”

“Jeez,” she gasped. “Why?”

“I don’t know,” he shrugged. “I love my sisters but… it was too much over there. Lots of problems. So I left to sunny California, and my life has been a dream ever since,” he smiled sarcastically. Even though just about every single smile he’s made has been forced or sarcastic or mocking, there was still something really nice about it. Elsie quickly shook the thought from her head.

“So why are you helping me?” she finally asked. “I mean, I know you said you didn’t want me to fend for myself, but you’ve literally almost died twice now. No sane person would stay with me after all that unless there’s something else.”

“What? You think I’m after the money?” he asked, kind of laughing.

“Lucas, I’m being serious,” she stated flatly. “Why are you helping me?”

Lucas must’ve not been ready for the question, because now he seemed entirely thrown off. He looked away, the once content look on his face replaced with a dark one.

She was once again hit with the realization of how alone they were and how little she knew him. She sat up at the thought, knowing that if he were to try anything, she would run.

Lucas noticed her quick movement and was quick to speak. “No, El—”

It was too late.

The paranoia had kicked in and she was on her feet, running in the opposite direction. She didn’t know where to, but anywhere from him was her goal.

She couldn’t trust him. How could she? If anything, he’s set everything up so perfectly. Stick with her long enough to gain her trust, then seclude her completely from society. No phone. No transportation. Nobody knows where she’s at.

_He’s going to kill her._

She found herself in one of the bedrooms, slamming the door and locking it behind her. Tears were streaming down her face as she heard Lucas bang on the door. She frantically searched the room for any possible weapon—anything she could use to defend herself. She’d rather hurt him now than have to face him later.

 _Later_.

She realized there would be many laters. Even if she were to get rid of Lucas, there would be another threat, then another threat, then another.

“ _Elsie_ ,” Lucas called from outside the room. “Open the fucking door.”

“What’s the point?” Elsie asked, defeated.

Lucas didn’t respond immediately.

“I don’t blame you,” his muffled voice rang from against the wooden door. “I’m honestly surprised it took you this long to freak out on me. Please don’t do anything stupid,” he spoke quietly, his voice defeated .

She thought about the many stupid things she could do, one of them more than the others. The room was dark, with the exception of the slight moonlight reflecting on a vanity. She slowly inched towards it, staring at her silhouette until it freaked her out.

She thought about the first man that tried to kill her, and his mask that frequently reappeared in her mind. She couldn’t seem to forget about it, the memory resurfacing every ten minutes or so. She remembered the fear of dying—not just dying, but being killed—and how so many people wanted to inflict in on her.

“Elsie, please,” Lucas called, a fist lightly thudding against the door.

“Don’t worry about me, Lucas,” she began, tears streaming down her face, the tips of her fingers finding the cold glass of the reflection. What was she going to do? The vision of her punching the mirror and taking one of the shards to hurt herself began to play in her head. It was one way out. And they would win.

Closing her eyes, she took her hand off the mirror and breathed. She turned in the opposite direction and towards the door, slowly opening it.

Lucas sat on the floor opposite the door, his face in his hands. It confused her for a second, wondering why it bothered him so much. He always seemed like he couldn’t care less about her. Why is he bothered? He looked up at her, relief erupting in his expression. Elsie decided to sit down next to him, laying her head on his shoulder.

“I thought I was kind of obvious about this,” he began, his voice low. “But I don’t plan on killing you.”

“I know,” she sniffed, tears continuing to cloud her vision. “I don’t think I plan on killing me either.”

Lucas shifted uncomfortably, unprepared for that response from her. He thought for a moment about her in the bedroom but decided he didn’t want to think about it.

He relaxed, laying his head on top of hers, squeezing her hand. Elsie wanted to say it was weird whenever he wasn’t cold, but it wasn’t—it was just unfamiliar to her. She decided to cherish the moment, knowing it would probably fade away again soon.

“You should probably get some sleep,” he said after a while. It was true, she was tired.

“I don’t know if I can do that.”

He stood up and reached his hand out towards her. She took it, bringing herself up to her feet. They walked to the living room, where Elsie took a seat while Lucas searched for blankets. It was an unspoken rule at this point that they slept near each other. The thought of sleeping alone in one of those rooms made her weary.

She laid cozy on one of the couches, blanket pulled up to her chin as Lucas got comfortable. For a brief second, she felt relaxed. She knew this wouldn’t last long, though. She closed her eyes, trying her best to block out any memory of anything. Thinking of happy memories only made her miss them more. She found herself dreaming about life after.

“What’s something you do when you don’t want to think about anything before sleeping?” she asked aloud.

Lucas turned to his side to face her, laying on the longer couch adjacent to hers. His fingers reached the lamp on the side table next to them, switching the lamp off and letting darkness flood the room.

“Well, it’s been a while, but when I was sixteen I used to play songs I liked until I fell asleep.”

Elsie frowned. Neither of them had any form of music, even if they did, she didn’t like the idea of not being able to hear anything going on around them.

“Ideally, that would have been nice,” she commented. “Anything else sixteen-year-old you would recommend?”

“I don’t know. Porn,” he spoke flatly.

Elsie snorted at his unexpected response. “You’re telling me porn made you sleepy?”

Lucas turned the other direction, as if trying to find a comfortable way to sleep.

“Yeah,” he said after a while, “I’m just… not going to fill you in on the details.”

He didn’t have to. She was already thinking about it, the dork he was at sixteen, being the gross high school boy he was. And the fact that he felt telling her that was fine. He made absolutely no sense to her.

“I’ll take your recommendations into deep consideration,” she responded sarcastically.

“Hey, you’re the one who asked me what I, a sixteen-year-old boy with sleeping problems would do to get some thoughtless sleep.”

“I don’t have to know everything, man.”

“Well it was those two things. Music and—”

“Okay, I get it, pervert,” she judged him, almost laughing.

Lucas turned again, this time to face Elsie. “You’re telling me you’ve never watched porn?”

It was dark, but she still stared at him for asking her these kinds of questions. “Lucas, we are not having this conversation. I think I can rest peacefully somehow,” she responded, now feeling the need to knock right out into sleep.

“Okay,” he agreed, once again changing his sleeping position. She immediately felt bad for anyone he’s ever slept with—sleeping in the same bed as him seemed like a chore.

Even though it was weird, he was clearly trying to make her laugh, which worked. It was definitely something different, he never really tried to make her feel anything, besides a dumbass. She couldn’t tell if this was an official change of pace, or if tomorrow it’d be over. Part of her wanted him to go back to normal. This side of him humanized him a little too much for her liking, and if something were to happen to him because of her, she wouldn’t know what to do with herself.

Sighing, she turned her body the other direction, knowing she wouldn’t be able to get any sleep tonight. She forced herself to block out all the bad thoughts, which failed most of the time. She did eventually find a good way to pass the time, though. Even though it wasn’t exactly positive, she let her mind fantasize about coming back home. Everyone being in shock, asking her questions, most likely very angry and confused—but in the end, still happy to have her home. She pretended that her dad didn’t have some sketchy job, and that her friends would understand.

She woke up in a cold sweat in her old bed. Her heart pounded for a brief second, forgetting she’d just been dreaming. Her fingers felt the fabric of her soft comforter, as she stared at her surroundings around her room, blinking furiously.

_Thank_ _god,_ she told herself, _it was all just a dream._ She’d never left Atherton, she’d never been almost killed twice, and she’d never met Lucas.

A frown formed upon her face.

“Dad?” she called out, jumping to her feet. For some reason, running was not easy. Everything felt slow around her. Her fingers gripped her doorknob, shaking as she turned it open.

Outside of her room stood Mara.

“Liz,” she spoke, looking at her with deep concern. “Where the hell have you been? We’ve all been looking for you. Your dad’s convinced you’ve been kidnapped.”

“I haven’t been anywhere,” Elsie replied. “I’ve been here, in my room.”

Mara gave her a look that showed she didn’t believe her. “If you’ve been here the whole time, then why is all your stuff gone?”

Elsie, confused, turned around to face her room again, which was now empty of all her things she had once deemed important—just like she’d left it before she went off with Lucas.

“Elsie,” she spoke from behind her. “We all want you dead.”


	11. RED LIGHT

Elsie woke up sweating. The last thing she remembered before falling asleep was the fact that she couldn’t sleep. She’d been sure that Lucas had no trouble sleeping, all while she lay there hoping it would take over soon. Unfortunately, it did.

She’d been awake when the sun had risen, which she dreaded every second of. Not being able to sleep is probably one of the worst forms of torture, especially when sleep is needed most. She sat up, noticing the couch beside her was empty, blankets folded. Of course Lucas was up before her. She was also convinced he always ran on at least three hours of sleep a day. It definitely showed sometimes.

Waking up sweaty always made her feel disgusting, so she opted for a shower. She padded around the cabin first, making sure Lucas was also there. Once in the kitchen, she found him at the dining table on his laptop.

He looked up at her from under his glasses, then back down to his screen. He mumbled a ‘good morning’ as he typed away, offering no information as to what he was doing. She bit her lip nervously.

“You find anything?” she asked, her question vague.

“Well, a little bit. But I want to be one-hundred percent sure before I tell you anything,” he responded.

“What percent are you at right now?” she asked.

He looked away from his screen for a second in thought. “Like seventy-three percent sure.” She processed what he said, figured out it had no real value, then headed towards the shower.

Most of the afternoon didn’t consist of really any talking. Lucas typed away at his computer. Elsie asked how he got any service. He gave her a vague mumbled response and continued. Elsie, annoyed, walked away. She didn’t feel like exploring the area, mostly because she was still very paranoid.

Elsie stepped back into the kitchen to ask him if he was hungry. He proceeded to ask her the same question. They both concluded neither of them could eat. That, or he was trying to sympathize with her. He had a weird way of doing that.

At around five PM, Elsie, bored out of her mind, marched back into the kitchen, where Lucas had only left approximately three times the whole day.

“What percent are you at now?” she asked, taking a seat and sitting her head in her hands.

He looked up at her from his glasses. “You’ve asked me that three times in the last hour, El,” he responded.

Her stare continued to bore into him. “The question still stands.”

“Sixty-nine percent.”

“ _Lucas_ ,” she whined, “that’s lower than the last time I asked you. I’m being serious here, I hate being in the dark. This isn’t funny.”

“I know. I’m sorry. I just got annoyed. I really don’t know, I’m trying to piece it together.”

“Maybe I can help. Just tell me something,” she pleaded.

“Okay, fine,” he sighed. “So I’ve been talking to Fazer here,” he started, immediately followed by Elsie’s hurt expression. “It’s not what it looks like, okay?”

“How can you talk to him after all this? He’s just going to expose you _again_.”

“Look, he told people I had you. Not that I was helping you, which is good. I’m not a target. It also looks like people think I lost you, because no one has heard from you. They’d heard from me though. It’s all in the clear now. I think.”

She shifted uneasily in her seat. “What does that mean?”

“It just means I don’t know. I’ve been searching forums about your case lately, and people don’t like sharing information. No one’s doing a team effort here. It’s every man for himself. Which is _kind_ _of_ a good thing, in that it’s going to be really hard for people to find out who you are. The only main lead is the one Fazer put up, which he quickly took down because he’s thankfully a coward.”

Elsie pondered on his words for moment, now forming a new question she has yet to ask him. Knowing him, he’d probably deflect as usual. She went for it anyways.

“How did you figure out who I was, then?”

Lucas kept his gaze locked on his screen, not answering as if he didn’t hear her ask it.

“Didn’t I tell you I know someone?” he responded.

Elsie squinted at him. “No. Didn’t you think I was my mom when you first met me?” she answered, recalling his confusion when he found out she was Miss Clairmont, and not Mrs. Clairmont.

“I may or may not have been acting on false information,” he responded.

“Stop being vague. You’re telling me if I were some old woman, you would be doing the same?” she asked.

Now he looked up at her. “Probably not.”

Suddenly she was the one with a thousand questions again, and yet, even though it seemed like they had all the time in the world in that cabin, Elsie felt like she’d never find out because of his stubbornness.

“Really, Lucas? Are you going to keep me in the dark forever? Does it pleasure you to have me be a fucking idiot all the time? Because it really feels like it.”

“Elsie—”

“No, Lucas, tell me what you know. Tell me what you’re not telling me. _I knew someone_ clearly isn’t all of it.”

He took a deep breath before speaking. “I’m not choosing not to tell you anything because I have some weird superiority complex you’re probably convinced I have. It’s because I can’t tell you. There’s just a lot that I’m involved in that I know would probably make things worse.”

“So you’re telling me you’re essentially a bad person, and you’re just going to keep lying to me, so I won’t run away?” she asked flatly.

“Yes. I’m trying my best to corrupt you as least as possible.”

“You’re fucked,” Elsie spat as she got up from the table and out of the room.

She wanted to laugh. How much more corrupt could she get? Is he really trying to get her to believe that’s he’s keeping her in the dark to protect her? She scoffed angrily, deciding she hated men. She hated how they perceived her as weak. It may be true, but it was always like they never saw a chance in her.

She’d had the same feeling before, time and time again, with her dad and boyfriend. They always felt the need to protect her. Given, she did actually need the protecting this time, but for once she felt like her and Lucas were on a team. He had just bluntly reminded her that that was not the case.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud thud, and what sounded like another man shouting. She immediately jumped, frozen in place from fear. Someone had found them.

Elsie heard the man talking to Lucas and was immediately set at ease. She rushed back into the dining room, where she saw a man she recognized pointing a gun at Lucas, whose hands were up above his head.

“James,” she called, “it’s me, oh my god,” she spoke quickly.

“Oh, Jesus, Elsie,” the man spoke with a raspy voice, lowering his gun at the sight of her. “Had I known it was you, I wouldn’t’ve came in here like this,” he grinned warmly as he walked towards her, engulfing her in a hug.

“Who’s this?” Lucas asked out of confusion, still sitting at the dining table.

“James, um, a friend of the family’s,” Elsie replied as she pulled away from him. “I forgot, him and my dad both use this place. They’re good friends.”

“I’m really sorry, I noticed someone had come in through the alarm system, and I know your father hasn’t been down here in years,” he explained to Lucas and Elsie. “Usually Daniel tells me when he’s coming, and it’s just been so long,” he sighed. “What are you doing here, anyways?” he asked curiously as he pushed his gun into his holster.

Elsie smiled a weak smile. “Just traveling with a friend. Oh, this is Lucas, by the way,” she said as she motioned towards Lucas.

Lucas quickly got up to shake James’s hand—a gesture she had not expected coming from him.

“Yeah, we got lost. The service down here is pretty bad, and I know the ways around here, so I thought we settle down for a little bit,” she further elaborated.

He nodded in comprehension. “Well, I’ve been comin’ down here a lot lately, and I should have some food I can fix up if you two kids are hungry,” he offered as he walked into the kitchen.

Elsie was just about to deny his offer as soon as Lucas spoke up.

“That would be amazing,” he smiled as he glanced at Elsie.

“I don’t think this is a good idea,” she whispered quietly as she pulled him aside.

His smile quickly faded and turned into concern. “Shit—”

“No, don’t worry, I trust him. It’s just that he might tell my dad. Or maybe he already knows my dad is probably looking for me—I don’t know. I’m just saying we shouldn’t stay long.”

He nodded in understanding, just before James stepped back into the room.

“Pasta good?” he asked, still a joyous grin on his face.

Both Elsie and Lucas nodded.

They sat around a rectangular table. Lucas made sure to be sitting right next to Elsie while James sat in front of them. He had made regular red spaghetti, which looked fine for the most part. They were grateful he was taking them in to begin with.

“So,” James began as he collected a forkful of spaghetti, “how are you holding up?”

“My senior year, you know, it’s all stress right now.”

“Of course,” he nodded as he chewed his food. “Does your father know that you’re all the way down here? Are you guys on some kind of break?”

Elsie looked at Lucas, then back to James. “Yeah, of course. I just needed some time off.” She held the fork in her hand as she pushed around the noodles, unsure if she could bring herself to eating any of it. Her hunger has yet to resurface.

“And tomorrow’s senior skip day,” Lucas interjected, a slight smile on his face.

“Some time off… and he let you take a boy with you?”

Her eyes widened. “Oh, no it’s not like that. He’s just a friend.”

James nodded, as if thinking something but dismissing it.

“What happened to that forehead of yours?” he asked, fixating his eyes on Lucas’ bandages.

“Lacrosse practice. Someone hit me in the head with their stick this morning,” he said, rolling his eyes. It awed Elsie how quick he was to give efficient, believable responses.

It was quiet for a moment before James spoke up again.

“Well, you two be careful, it’s not so safe out there,” he admonished as he continued eating his spaghetti.

She half smiled, “I know. Couldn’t make this trip alone.”

“Now, you know what I’m talking about—specifically, right?” he pushed further.

Elsie furrowed her brows in confusion. “What… are you talking about?”

“Well,” he began, his voice grave, “with all them folks after you, I’m sure it won’t be long till one of them is successful.”

The room had suddenly gone dead quiet. Lucas and Elsie looked at each other with pure bewilderment just before James pulled out his pistol again, this time aiming it at Elsie.

Elsie felt she was glued to the chair in pure shock. This man, who was supposed to be her father's friend and had known her since she was a child, was now holding a gun to her face.

This wasn’t just a betrayal, but an awful, late realization. She’d had money for so long and had been so used to it that she had no idea of its effects and corrupt nature. Yes, she was aware of how sick it was that people wanted her dead for millions of dollars, but some part of her doubted many people would be after it. She had no idea that it would easily rip apart morality, sanity—anything and everything ethical seemed to be thrown out the window when money was on the table, and James was proof.

She wanted to move, but all she could focus on was the gun. James’s finger rested on the trigger, aiming a little better just before squeezing it.

But he was too late. Elsie was shoved out of the way, sending her barreling towards the floor. The gun still fired, the bullet firing in Elsie’s direction and only missing her face by several centimeters.

The piercing sound of the bullet ricocheting in her ear drums as she slammed against the hardwood floor completely disoriented her. Everything was becoming blurry to her as she tried getting up. At this point, absolutely nothing made sense.

She heard more shuffling and grunts and sounds of struggle, along with the clatter of the table and what sounded like broken plates. She couldn’t remember how to get up, and her forehead thumping loudly against her skull wasn’t helping.

Then she heard another shot.

Her ears rung for what felt like minutes as her hands found the floor, pushing herself to sit up as she looked around. The room was empty.

Before she could get up, she felt a hand grab her arm, and she was on her feet again. It was Lucas. She leaned against him as he hurried towards the front door, swinging it open. It was dark outside again, and she was scared.

She was mumbling incoherently, trying hard to ask him if he had killed James. Lucas quickly caught on.

“I didn’t kill him,” he spoke hoarsely.

As soon as they stepped out, they were greeted with several flashlights and what seemed to be a group of people.

“That’s her!” one of them shouted.

Elsie now had a clear view of everyone standing in front of them. About a dozen people stood outside the cabin, each wearing a mask, covering their faces. She was still disoriented, but it looked like they had some farm or zoo theme going on. It didn’t help ease her fears. All of them had a weapon clinging to one of their hands, ranging from knives to axes—way too prepared for Elsie’s comfort.

Nothing terrified Elsie more than the idea that every single one of them wanted her dead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i apologize if i forget violence tw's at the beginnings of chapters, i think these few chapters are gonna have it oops.


	12. <3 MURDER <3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> um tw? murder???????

“Fuck,” Lucas cursed under his breath as he headed towards the back, Elsie clinging behind him.

She felt her heart leap to her throat—completely stunned.

“I think I’m gonna vomit, Lucas, _what the fuck,_ ” she panicked, hands shaking and tears forming in her eyes. She thought she was terrified when she was first attacked. But this—she’d never been more petrified in her life.

Lucas turned to her, his hands gripping her shoulders firmly, keeping direct eye contact. There was clear fear—yes, but there was also hope in his expression.

“Follow my lead, okay? Freaking out is easy, but do _not_ let it take over. It might cost the both of us our lives. Just please, work with me,” he consoled her, as if he knew exactly what to do.

Elsie nodded, envying just how collected he seemed to be. Once they were on the same page, Lucas wasted no time heading towards the back of the cabin. As soon as they were out of the back door, Lucas broke into a sprint, still clinging onto Elsie’s arm. She was forced to sprint along with him.

She had never sprinted that fast in her life. She had always been more of a long distance runner and running too fast made her vomit.

The voices behind them grew louder, and she was beginning to catch onto what they were saying.

“Hey! Come back here!” a male voice shouted.

“You can’t go far,” a female voice laughed.

It made her sick to the stomach knowing that people were so awful.

They were running so hard that Elsie could taste the spaghetti she barely ate coming up her throat. She couldn’t tell if it was because they were running so fast or because about ten people were ready to butcher the both of them. She resolved it was probably the latter.

The voices were beginning to fade away while they became more and more entangled in the woods, up until the voices seemed to be coming from ahead of them. Before Elsie could say anything, they ran directly into two other people. Lucas and Elsie both screeched to halt, beholding the two masked figures in front of them. There was a tall, lanky boy who wore a pig mask, accompanied by a girl wearing some deformed animal mask she couldn’t make out.

The first thing the guy with a pig mask did was jam the butt of his ax directly towards Lucas, knocking him towards the floor. Elsie noticed a heavy object bolt in the other direction, and her heart sped with fear. It was James’ gun.

“Look who we have here,” said the pig boy. She could practically hear the grin in his voice.

She was confused as to why they hadn’t reached for the gun yet, but then realized they hadn’t seen it. She could barely make out their features herself.

“Shhh,” the girl spoke up. “Don’t let them hear you,” she urged. It didn’t take Elsie long to catch onto their plan.

“It’s okay, we don’t have to be quick. They’re all looking in the wrong place. And they won’t hear a thing,” he said as he twirled the ax he was carrying in his hand. He stepped towards Lucas, who was still lying on the ground, and placed the blade on his neck. Elsie grimaced, hoping where he hit Lucas wasn’t the same place he’d already been hit.

“Now,” he began, “why don’t we have a little fun before we slice them up, right?”

The girl giggled. “What do you have in mind?”

Elsie was visibly shaking with fear, and the girl took notice. “Aw, we’re scaring her. It’s okay, we might go a little easy on you,” she laughed. “I’m sorry, I’m just so excited thinking about all I can buy with my—our—fifty million dollars.”

“That’s right, babe.”

The girl neared Elsie, a machete in her hand. She dragged it idly behind her as she stood in front of her.

“Hm,” she thought. “What shall we make you do?” The girl’s fingers found Elsie’s hair, twirling her brown locks between them.

Elsie gulped.

“I’ve got an idea,” Pig Boy spoke up. The girl turned to face him. “This your boyfriend, huh?” he asked.

Elsie nodded her head quickly. “No,” she choked.

“Well, tonight he is,” he said as she felt the girl’s hand press against her back, pushing her forward.

Elsie furrowed her brows at him.

“Get him off,” he commanded.

“Kinky,” the girl laughed, which only made Elsie angry.

She wouldn’t move.

“Come on, _let’s go_ ,” he demanded. “We don’t have all the time in the world here.”

“No,” she refused.

“No?” Pig Boy raised his voice, his laughter gone now. She wasn’t sure which one was worse. “Either you do it, or Milly over here slices off his manhood before we kill him,” he demanded.

Elsie took a look at Lucas, who was eyeing her and the exact spot the gun had landed, darting his eyes back and forth.

Elsie gulped again.

“Come on, girl. At least he’ll be happy before he dies,” she laughed.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Elsie shouted, surprising herself. Both of them went quiet. Elsie turned to face the girl. “ _Especially_ you. How can you live with yourself, supporting this kind of bullshit?”

“Oh, shut up,” she countered.

“No. I won’t. Haven’t you ever been forced to something—something like this?”

She stood quietly, not replying.

“You have, haven’t you?” Elsie pushed.

She hesitated before speaking. “Never mind, Johnny, just end them. Let’s just get our money and go.”

“Are you serious?” he countered. “Are you really listening to this dumb bitch?”

She hesitated before speaking. “No, we’re just wasting time-”

“Time you were willing to waste till she decided to open her whore mouth,” he shot back.

“Whatever!” she threw up her hands. “Just do what you want, let’s get this over with.”

Johnny looked up towards Elsie, waiting. Elsie stood her ground.

“You’ve got five seconds-”

“And you’ll kill us?” she began, her voice shaky. “That’s the whole point here, isn’t it? And who’s giving you the money?”

Johnny didn’t answer.

“Exactly. Who’s to say they’ll give you anything? You kill me, and then whoever posted the script decides to delete it. Job done. And what will you do? Sue?” Elsie laughed a nervous laugh.

“That won’t happen,” he said with a low, angry voice.

“Oh? Right, because it’s guaranteed.” Elsie laughed again—a side of her she’d never encountered. “I also guarantee that I’ll personally hand you another fifty million dollars from my own pocket once you kill me, sound good? It’s guaranteed!” She continued. “And when I’m dead, and you’ve got no money, what’ll it be? A murder case on your hands? Life in prison? I can _also_ guarantee that my father is doing everything he can to look for me, and word on the street is…” she paused, “he’s quite the powerful man.”

“What is she talking about?” Milly asked, worry in her voice.

“Her dad owns the scripts,” Lucas finally spoke up.

“She’s a lying little bitch,” Johnny countered.

“Why else would the script be so much fucking money?” Lucas began. “You really want to be the one to piss the big guy off?”

Elsie knew what Lucas was saying wasn’t exactly true, but anything at this point was game as long as they’d back away.

“Johnny,” Milly pleaded.

“No, Milly. God damn it. We’re already here.”

Johnny became visibly tense, loosening his grip on Lucas. It may not have been much, but it was just enough for Lucas to grip Johnny’s leg and pull him towards the ground.

Johnny cursed as he tried getting back up, and Elsie took this as queue to grab the gun. Once in her hand, Elsie aimed directly at Johnny, then Milly, taking turns on them both as Lucas got up and stood back.

Everyone was silent for a moment, processing the fact that Elsie was aiming a gun at them.

But then Johnny laughed. It was a sick, disgusting cackle, and she knew it was directly for her.

“She’s not gonna shoot us,” he mocked. “I mean, come on.”

“ _Shoot_ ,” Lucas commanded silently under his breath.

Elsie stood still now, unable to bring her fingers to the trigger. Both hands clung to the cold metal, and she couldn’t stop herself from shaking. How was she supposed to shoot someone? This wasn’t her. No way could she actually shoot them.

“Can’t you see?” he laughed, turning to Lucas. “She won’t do it.”

“Damn it El, this isn’t the time. _Shoot_ him.”

“She’s still got the safety on,” he mocked. “The dumb bitch doesn’t even know how to work it. Come on, _El._ Shoot me.”

Elsie examined the gun a little more, just before finding the safety and clicking it off.

All of them stilled at the sound.

Before anyone could say anything, Johnny lifted up his ax, aiming it towards Lucas.

A loud blast rung in the air before he could strike. Johnny stilled, looking down at his chest now filling with red. His hands touched the fabric of his yellow t-shirt just before falling back.

“ _We found her!_ ” Milly screamed, now utilizing her friends she had been so eager to ditch moments ago.

She opened her mouth again to scream for her friends, but Elsie was quick to aim at her, squeezing the trigger tight again. It wasn’t long until Milly laid unconscious next to her boyfriend, matching in wounds.

“Come on, we gotta run,” Lucas warned as the sounds of distant footsteps became closer.

It wasn’t long until they started shouting for a response. While Lucas ran forward, Elsie had no motivation to keep moving. Two bodies laid in front of her, and she was the reason they were there.

“ _Let’s go_ ,” Lucas whisper-shouted as he grabbed Elsie’s arm once again. He immediately noticed the gravity of what had happened and decided it was best to take the gun from her.

They ran for about thirty seconds before Lucas came to a stop. He turned to face Elsie, placing a finger in front of his lips before pointing up towards the branches that hung above them.

Elsie looked at him like he was an idiot, shaking her head side to side. Rolling his eyes, Lucas took a knee, motioning her to use him to hoist her up. Elsie reluctantly complied, clinging onto the tree’s heavy branches and pulling herself up. Lucas followed.

They climbed up several branches before they decided they were high enough. From their view, they were able to see the distant flashlights and hear conversations between their hunters.

“Holy shit,” one of them said.

“What happened?”

“They got shot, dumb ass,” one replied.

“Is that Milly and John?”

“Shit, are they dead?”

Silence.

Elsie’s eyes widened as she looked up at Lucas in fear. Drawing his lips into a fine line, he took her hand into his. He didn’t have to say anything for her to know that he understood.

“Milly’s still breathing,” one of them said.

“What about John?”

He was silent for a moment before speaking. “He’s dead.”

The words hit Elsie so hard she felt like she was going to fall out of the tree. Her hand fell from Lucas’s grasp and suddenly they were grasping onto the branches around her. Her breath was lost and her heart was beating too fast and she felt like she was choking but couldn’t bring herself to make a sound.

“That’s his fucking fault for being an idiot,” the unidentified voices echoed in the background. “Knew that son-of-a-bitch was gonna betray us from the beginning.”

“What about Milly?”

“Bitch is lucky we’re not pounding her face in right now,” scoffed another one.

“Come on, they can’t be far,” said another as they started walking in other directions.

Lucas scooted in nearer to Elsie.

“Look, you had no choice. This isn’t your fault. If you didn’t kill him, they would’ve done a lot worse to us,” Lucas whispered.

Elsie’s gaze stayed on the floor under them.

“I’m sorry. I could’ve done much more—I don’t know what got to me. I was just scared and I’m usually good under pressure but… I don’t know. I just froze and everything went so fast.”

Elsie refused to look at him. Not one part of her blamed him for what happened, but she still couldn’t shake the image from her head. Wrapping her arms around the branch that stood next to her, she made sure to keep her feet close as the noises of their hunters filled the air. Her eyes looked off into the gleaming horizon as they dried slowly.

It took about an hour for their search party to give up and the clouds to start filling up the sky. It took about another forty-five minutes for them to decide whether or not it was clear for them to leave. She couldn’t tell how much time went by anyways. It just felt like they were up in the tree forever.

Without saying a word, Lucas jumped down. Elsie’s converse slammed against the earth behind him.

She felt a hint of a water drop on her cheek, then arm, then all around her. In just seconds, heavy drops of water showered them instantly, soaking the clothes they were wearing.

In the distance, Elsie could see John’s body. Milly’s was gone.

“Come on,” Lucas said as he rested a hand on her back. “Let’s go.”

She didn’t move. Instead, she turned to him directly. “What the hell is wrong with you?” she asked.

Lucas gave her an unfamiliar look. “What?”

“I’m talking about this. This is the fourth time I’ve almost gotten you killed. _Two more_ times since the _last_ time I reminded you of the amount of times—which was like, four hours ago. Why are you still here?” she shouted over the rain. 

Lucas didn’t answer.

“Come on, Lucas. Don’t do this. You’ve been avoiding my question this entire time. Just tell me, damn it,” she demanded.

“It doesn’t matter.”

“ _It doesn’t matter?_ ” Elsie was angry now. “You’re telling me your own wellbeing doesn’t matter? That’s bullshit.” He kept his eyes low and his mouth shut, which only made Elsie even more angry. “What is it?” she continued demanding, stepping closer. His mouth remained shut. “Do you think your silence is making me believe you’re doing this for fun? There’s a reason behind all this, isn’t there?” she pressed.

No response.

“ _Just tell me!_ ” she cried as she pushed him.

He stood there, water drenching his hair as his face remained impassive. She couldn’t quite point out what it was, but it bothered her that she couldn’t tell what he was feeling. She looked at him desperately for an answer.

“I fucked up,” he said finally.

She furrowed her brows at him, not expecting that response. His eyes met hers, then quickly darted towards the body laying not too far from them.

She shook her head. “What are you talking about?”

Lucas hesitated before answering. His voice was low and grave. “You’re not the only one who’s killed someone.”

And with that, he left Elsie alone.


	13. NOT REQUITED

Everything seemed to be passing by a lot slower once she was back on earth. Being in the tree was only a tiny break from the ground beneath her feet, and part of her wanted to slowly trudge back and climb up again. The other part of her knew she wasn’t tall enough to reach the branches.

Lucas was ahead of her by several dozen feet, making his way back into the cabin. This made her slightly uneasy, mostly because James tried shooting her the last time she was in there. She shuddered, suddenly remembering the gunshot she heard just before Lucas made her go outside.

Once inside, she saw Lucas coming from the kitchen, a knife in hand. She jumped at the sight of him, unsure what it was he had in mind.

“Don’t worry, it’s not for me,” he said flatly as he walked over to the couch. She frowned at yet another one of his vague responses.

Elsie shut the door behind her as she entered the living room. She shivered at the cool AC hitting her damp skin, dripping water puddling at her feet. The room appeared normal, for the most part, until she saw James tied up on the couch. She froze, her jaw slightly dropping at the sight of Lucas standing by him with a knife. She recalled hearing the gunshot just before they ran off, and quickly noticed James hadn’t any wounds. She wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or not.

“Look, I’m sorry,” James quickly began stuttering.

“Calm down,” Lucas interrupted. “I’m not going to hurt you, even though you deserve it,” he said as he backed away from him.

“All those kids—I had no idea—"

Elsie stood back silently and watched as she felt the drops of rain she collected outside trickle from her hair and down her clothes and skin. She shivered slightly, trying to keep her thoughts on how cold she felt and how lucky she was to be alive to feel it.

“Before we do anything, what can you tell us that can help keep Elsie alive?” Lucas asked.

James hesitated. “I don’t know I just—I knew people were after Elsie, some very sick people ready to kill her in very sick ways. I thought maybe if I led you here I could just end it quickly, for Elsie’s sake,” he reasoned pathetically.

“I’m sorry, _led_ us here?” Elsie interjected.

“What do you mean?” Lucas interrogated.

“I’ve been onto you since the beginning,” he began. “I sort of had an advantage because I already had where you lived, phone number, all that good stuff. Lucky for you, I saw the script _pretty_ quickly.”

“What about my dad?” Elsie asked, her emotions everywhere. “Does he know about this?”

“Your father does not know, for now. I’m usually the one under him, monitoring what is happening on the website.”

“You’re the one in charge of the scripts—his moderator,” Lucas commented.

“Exactly. Your dad has many other companies he runs, not just the scripts. I look over the scripts site. I report anything he would need to know, and since your dad trusts me, he usually doesn’t do all the checking.”

“And you just… lied to him this time?” she asked, only becoming less and less familiar with who she thought James was. She had seen him as just a colleague and good friend of her dad, not someone who helped her dad run an illegal business.

“I did. I knew that no matter what he did, there was nothing he could do to stop everyone. Say, he takes it down. Any other account can post the same script within minutes,” he responded.

“It’s virtually impossible to get rid of a script, that’s why that wasn’t on my list of solutions,” Lucas spoke up, his voice rigid.

“Smart boy, that one,” he paused. “Anyway, like I said, I’ve been tracking you since the beginning. No one else would have been able to hack into the GPS like I did because they didn’t know who you were with. You see, I could tell who’s been around you these past few days that the script has been up… and something always keeps coming up that just makes no sense to me…” his voice trailed off.

“What are you saying?” Elsie pushed further.

“Whoever posted the script—god knows who—gave very, _very_ little information about you. It’s like he—or she—wanted people to go through a lot in order to get to you. The script was up for a few days before I saw anyone on your radar,” he cleared his throat, shifting uncomfortably in the ropes preventing him from moving. “This guy, right here,” he motioned, “was the first one. As you can see, I was worried, he went as far as into your house, but did nothing.”

“You were so worried you just watched it happen, huh?” Elsie scowled.

“No, I knew this boy was smart enough to not kill you in your own home. I knew that he would build up some sort of relationship with you, make sure you have trust in him. Now, that right there, is the deadliest weapon.”

His words were making her become more and more uneasy in her skin. She didn’t like what he was saying, but a small part of her understood his logic.

“You’re just trying to get to me,” Elsie said, her voice low. She turned to Lucas, whose eyes remained on the hardwood floor. “Right?”

Lucas didn’t respond.

“So, my best guess was, now that I knew who you trusted most, was to lead you here. Corrupting your GPS wasn’t too hard. Pro tip: stick to paper maps. Can’t be tracked that way, that’s for sure. Oh, and also don’t take the word from strangers. I’m sure he’s been planning to kill you all along.”

“That’s not true,” Elsie countered. “Look, I know it looks bad—but that’s not-” she stopped herself, wondering why she was the only one defending Lucas. She looked back to him, uneasy at his silence. “Lucas?” she called softly, her vision blurring.

His eyes never met hers. Instead, he walked up to James, knife in hand.

“There’s a dead body out there from those crowd of _kids_ who tried killing us a couple minutes ago,” he spoke, his voice hard. “This is your property, so I assume you’re going to take care of that,” he said as he lightly laid the knife down next to him. “Have fun cutting yourself loose.”

Lucas took no hesitation storming out the door. Taking one last look at James, who gave her a look that only made her more sick, she quickly followed him out. Lucas was already halfway to his truck by the time she stepped out. She jogged for a moment until she reached him. Lucas stopped in place, his back facing Elsie.

“Why aren’t you saying anything?” Elsie spoke, her voice fragile. She had always had her suspicions, hoped that they were wrong, but always found herself back to questioning his intentions again. “Is he right?” she said, a lot more quietly.

She wasn’t scared anymore. If his intentions were really what James was saying, not one part of her feared Lucas.

Lucas turned around, looking down at her. “Elsie.” Her eyes met his, unsure what it was that hid behind his eyes. She couldn’t recognize it.

He brought both his hands to her face, cupping her cheeks between his palms. “I wouldn’t _ever_ hurt you.”

She felt her heart stammer and her lungs cave and her chest and face burn way more than they should.

“Lucas, I-”

“Do you have any idea, Elsie,” he paused dramatically, “ _any_ idea, how many _times_ and _chances_ I’ve had to kill you?” he asked, immediately breaking out into a smile, not being able to keep his face serious.

“ _God,_ Lucas. Don’t do that!” she laughed as she shoved him, causing him to drop his hands from her face. He tilted his head back in laughter. Both of them quickly ducked inside the truck to get out of the rain.

“I mean, come on, El,” Lucas began as he started the engine. “I had _so_ many chances. Why in _hell_ would I have dealt with all those psychos if I could have just pulled out the gun I just acquired and outed you then and there?”

“Seems like you’re just trying to convince me at this point,” she joked as Lucas began to back out of the driveway.

“Or in your sleep. In the hotel, or in the car. _So_ many times, El, yet here we are. I’d have much rather have already had you dead than have some sick kid threaten to cut off my dick.”

“I just haven’t reached your end game yet.”

“Is that so?”

“Why else would you be going through all this trouble? You have to have some goal.”

“And what do you think that is?” he asked curiously, taking a moment to look at her before he fixed his gaze on the road.

“If not to kill me?” she paused. “Hmph. To sleep with me, probably.”

Her statement took both of them by surprise. Elsie remembered thinking it jokingly but didn’t think she would actually say it out loud. Her face reddened at her statement.

“Oh, if I wanted to do that, it would’ve happened already.”

Elsie nearly choked. “It most certainly _would not_.”

“You haven’t seen me try.”

“I have a _boyfriend_.”

“Oh yeah, that kid who doesn’t know what hickey means _._ ”

Elsie rolled her eyes. “What are you, some hickey expert?”

“Why? Are you interested in finding out?”

Her face burned bright red. “Shut up. Where are we going?”

“Back to the city.”

After several silent hours of driving towards their destination, they decided a break was necessary. They found the nearest, cheapest motel and stuck with it. Elsie just needed a shower and sleep, and maybe a lot of therapy.

It didn’t take too long for her to notice the crappiness of the hotel. The room consisted of one queen-sized bed, a lamp, and a small dresser with clunky antenna TV. She sighed silently, her bag slung over her shoulder, as she made her way into the bathroom. It surprised her how it didn’t make her immediately grossed out.

She sat on the floor against the bathtub as she pulled out her burner phone. She desperately wanted to call Mara, but she knew that she had already told way too much to Tyler and that she had to limit the amount of people she would confide in. Part of her regretted not choosing her over him.

Her fingers dialed Tyler’s phone, hoping he would be awake. It was almost five AM.

“Hello?” Tyler answered after several rings, his voice sleepy. She always liked his sleepy voice.

“Hey,” she said.

“Oh god, Liz,” he said, relief in his voice. “Are you okay?”

She hesitated to answer. Everything that has happened so far began resurfacing, and suddenly she was crying. “No,” she choked.

“Liz, please, tell me. Let me help.”

“I can’t,” she said in between sobs.

“Everyone is so worried. I don’t know what to say… I want to help and tell them what I know but… I don’t really know anything.”

“Look, you have to understand. It’s not safe. I can’t tell you.”

“You sound insane, you know that? Are you on drugs? What the fuck is going on?” he pressed, his words sharp and hurtful.

“Please, I know it sounds really crazy, but I promise you I’m telling the truth.”

“Then why are you calling me, then?” he confronted, now becoming audibly irritated. “You sound so paranoid.”

“Tyler…”

“No. I’ve been so fucking worried about you, I can’t sleep, I can’t focus. You don’t get it. They won’t stop pressing me and I don’t know what to say.”

“ _Listen,_ okay? I can’t tell you, because if I do I know you’re going to do something stupid and get the both of us killed.”

“ _Killed?_ ”

“Tyler, please. I just… I needed to hear your voice.”

Silence.

“I want to tell you everything is okay, and I wish it was. But I just need you to tell me everything is, so I’m not scared out of my mind and—I just need to calm down. I need you to help me calm down,” she spoke, her voice shaking. “I promise the next time I call you I’ll answer all your questions. But right now, I just need you.”

Tyler sighed. “Okay. Okay, fine. But don’t forget about that promise. You’re going to tell me.”

“I will.”

“What do you want to hear?” he asked.

Elsie thought for a moment. “How’s it like back there? I mean, I’ve only been gone several days but… what am I missing out? Good things, please.”

“Spring Break starts next week, there’s going to be lots of parties, and you know the usual beach trip,” he said excitedly. “Maybe you could make it, you know? Like we planned?”

“I don’t know,” she replied. Missing parties was the least of her worries.

“You know it won’t be the same without you. Everyone here misses you.”

She was silent for a moment before replying. “What else?”

“Exams, also,” he said, a little less enthusiastically. “I’m sure when you come back they’ll let it slide.”

“Ugh, no, what else.”

“Ah, Prom. You’ll be back in time for that, right? I know how important that is to you,” he said with a little more hope. “And Chandler’s going to throw another one of his after parties. Man, I wish you were here for this. You’ll be back in time, right?”

Even if she were back in time, she wouldn’t find the motivation to even go. Suddenly everything that was so important to her seemed like a joke.

“I gotta go,” Elsie finally said.

“Okay,” he replied, defeated.

“I’ll call you soon.”

“All right. Stay safe, I love you.”

She was silent for a moment before hanging up.

Standing onto her feet, she turned towards the shower to turn it on. She wanted to feel guilty about not saying it back, but she didn’t. So much was going through her head at the moment that feeling anything would be a miracle.

She undressed and waited for the shower to get scalding hot. She stuck her fingers under the steaming beads of water, and yet it didn’t feel like much. Sighing, she stepped into the shower.

Elsie stepped out in her pajamas and headed towards the bed. Lucas was already sitting on it comfortably, also in a t-shirt and shorts, chewing. She then noticed the bag of chips present in his lap. His eyes quickly moved from under his thin black glasses to the television screen and towards Elsie, then back.

“Everything okay?” he asked as she took a seat next to him. She frowned at him. “I mean, with whoever you were on the phone with. Sorry, I just… I heard talking.”

“No, it’s okay,” she said as cracked her knuckles in her lap. She looked up at the screen and noticed the animal planet playing.

“It’s the only thing on,” he frowned disappointedly.

“Well, it’s just Tyler,” she sighed.

“Ah,” he said as he continued chewing. “Hickey boy.”

“Lucas.”

“Sorry,” he quickly apologized. “Hickey _Man_.”

“Never mind,” she sighed with exasperation as she closed her eyes and let herself fall back onto the pillows.

“No, seriously, I’m sorry. I was just trying to make you laugh.”

She slightly opened her eyes to squint at Lucas. “Am I laughing?”

Lucas smiled. “I am.”

Elsie couldn’t help but to smile either, which she resented herself for. She quickly grabbed the pillow that lay next to her to cover her face.

“He keeps asking me what’s going on and I don’t know how to answer,” she groaned.

“Just,” he paused, thinking, “just lie.”

She quickly took the pillow off of her face to give him another blank look. “I can’t just tell him I’m okay now, he already knows too much.”

“What does he know?” Lucas questioned.

“Enough. I haven’t told him anything except that I’m in danger. That’s it.”

“Well, just lie about the situation then,” he said.

Elsie sat up again, now interested. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, tell him something that sounds like a big deal in his world that would make sense.”

She thought for a moment, nodding. “That’s actually not a bad idea,” she said with a bit more hope.

Lucas promptly set the bag of chips down and headed towards the bathroom, followed by the sound of the sink running. Elsie took this as queue to start getting ready to sleep and began to tuck herself under the covers. It then hit her that there was only one bed.

Lucas returned to the room, turning off the TV.

“I’ll take the floor,” he said as he grabbed one of the pillows.

“No, it’s okay,” she said as she quickly sat up.

“Seriously, I don’t mind,” he waved her off as he continued.

“No, Lucas. The floor is probably disgusting and you’ll get cold,” she argued.

Lucas gave her a look, which was quickly followed by a corner of his mouth tilting up. “Now it seems like you’re the one trying to get into my pants,” he smirked as he placed the pillow back.

“Uh huh,” she scoffed. “It’s just sleep.”

Lucas laid down onto the bed, then turned to his side to face Elsie. He gave her another one of his looks she couldn’t quite decipher.

“What?” she finally asked.

“Hm? What?” he asked innocently.

“You’re just staring at me.”

“Does it make you uncomfortable?”

“A little.”

His eyes quickly darted away, looking everywhere except at Elsie. She couldn’t help but to laugh.

“What now?” he asked.

“Nothing,” she said as she laid onto her side too, facing Lucas. The smell of mint from his freshly brushed teeth caught her nose.

It was silent for a moment before Lucas spoke up. “Are you okay?”

“I think you know the answer to that question,” she sighed.

“Well, if you want to tell me anything,” his voice trailed off. It was a bit scratchy, probably from being so tired.

“It’s just… the phone call with Tyler.”

“Didn’t you already figure that out?”

“ _You_ did. But no, that’s not it,” she said as she propped her head under her elbow. “It’s just the things that he was talking to me about. Parties, prom, exams, stupid things about people who live in Atherton that I couldn’t _really_ ever care less about. I mean, come on. Was this really the stuff that made up my life before this?”

Lucas eyed her curiously. “Before what?”

“Before… I don’t know. Is almost dying a lot of times what it really takes for me to open my eyes?”

“What are you saying?”

She paused before answering. “I’m saying that that person back there… that’s not me. Even before this, now that I think about it… it never was me. I always tried so hard to make it my life and to just stay within my comfort zone, but I just kept wanting to break out of it.”

“I see it,” he said, studying her slightly.

“Really?” she asked, a bit disgusted. “I don’t really like this me either.”

He furrowed his brows at her. “What the hell do you mean? How can you not?”

Now she was the one furrowing her brows. “How can I not what?”

“This you, it’s amazing.”

Her jaw slightly dropped in bewilderment.

“I mean, you’ve been pretty bad ass these past few days. Sending a car off of the road? You. Screaming at some crazy kids who tried killing us? You. Successfully saving our asses? _You._ And that was all in one night.”

“Hey,” she interrupted. “It wasn’t just me. You actually saved me from getting shot in the face. And all that other stuff? You pushed me to do it.”

“Then we make a pretty good team,” he concluded.

She then began to realize that all of the stuff she would’ve never done—standing up for herself, taking risks, pushing boundaries—none of that would’ve been done without Lucas. She suddenly felt so grateful for being able to have him by her side.

Without even realizing what she was doing, she pushed through the covers and wrapped her arms around him, engulfing him in a hug. She must have caught him by surprise because he took a second to react, but quickly wrapped his arms around her as well.

“Thank you,” she said, her cheek pressed against his chest.

She pulled away only slightly so that her face was only inches from his. She couldn’t help but to feel her heart begin to skip beats. His skin felt so close to hers and warm and she just wanted to get so much closer.

His eyes met hers, and she just now noticed they were hazel. Those hazel eyes studied her slightly, just before moving lower and skimming her lips.

And God, did she want to kiss him, or for him to kiss her—it didn’t matter to her. But she was suddenly hit with the hard truth: she was still with Tyler. That same comfortable fear she’s been giving into her whole life began to creep in again, and she knew she couldn’t let this happen any longer.

“Good night,” she quickly said before turning the other direction.

She didn’t have to see the look on his face to know that she hurt him.


	14. STRIP

Her heavy eyelids slowly swung open to the sound of rapid keyboard-clicking. The room’s lighting hung dimly around her, taking her a moment to adjust. Her gaze wandered towards the keyboard noises, where she was now facing Lucas, his glasses reflecting the light from his screen.

She got a good look at the time and gasped.

“Its four PM already?”

“Morning,” he replied, not looking up from his laptop.

Elsie groaned as she sat up. Swinging her feet off the bed, she made her way to the bathroom.

“I looked into where we have to go,” Lucas called out as she ran her toothbrush under the faucet.

“Where?” she mouthed incoherently as she brushed her teeth. Lucas seemed to get the hint, though.

“It’s an amazing place. You’ll love it,” Lucas replied, almost sarcastically.

Elsie squinted at her reflection in suspicion. She peeked her head out of the bathroom and stared directly at Lucas, toothbrush in mouth.

“It’s a strip club,” he said bluntly.

Elsie nearly choked. She heard Lucas laugh as she turned towards the sink to spit. “You’re kidding, right?”

“ _Fortunately_ not,” he replied, amusement in his voice.

She stepped out and walked towards Lucas, who was now showing her his laptop screen. On it, displayed the address they’d been heading to. She frowned at the sight.

“Craig’s just fucking with you,” she said flatly.

“I’m not so sure about that,” Lucas winced as he turned his laptop screen around.

“What do you mean? That pervert wanted to see you assault me.”

“I just know they always have these things in really obscure places,” he said as he shut his laptop.

“What things?” Elsie asked. She suddenly recalled how little she knew again, which only aggravated her more.

“I’ll tell you when we’re on the road,” Lucas said as he gathered his things to go. Elsie followed reluctantly.

Elsie and Lucas spent the next twenty minutes drawing out the different ways to get to their destination on the map. They’d learned their lesson about using anything electronic, leaving Lucas’s phone behind as well.

“There’s still a lot I don’t know,” Elsie spoke after a while, her finger tracing along the marked path of the map.

“Me too,” he said. “Physics? Trigonometry? How to give a hickey? Oh wait, that’s Trevor’s problem.”

Elsie opened her mouth to speak but was a bit too shocked to even form a word. He occasionally liked to make fun of Tyler, but now it was… different.

“I’m kidding,” Lucas said after he noticed her surprise.

“Like you could do better,” Elsie muttered under her breath. She was unsure whether to feel annoyed or surprised or something else. It was a weird feeling she couldn’t quite describe.

“Fine, what were you talking about?” Lucas asked. He was a lot more verbal than usual.

“You said these _things_ were usually in weird places, like strip clubs. What things?” she asked.

“I’m not really sure, honestly,” he answered. “I’m assuming this is some sort of resistance thing going on, but I was never really that informed on that side of the internet. I just know anything having to do with tracking people down are usually very secretive.”

“Resistance?” she questioned.

“Yeah,” he started, slightly biting his lip. “I’ve heard about it, but I never really thought they were an actual thing. In from other hackers—bad ones. I’m assuming they’d help someone like you, too.”

“And you said you’re not familiar with that side of the internet?” she continued.

Lucas nodded.

“So what side are you familiar with?”

He hesitated before answering. “The good one,” he replied, a slight choke in his voice.

“And isn’t the side you just described to me as unfamiliar the _good_ side?” she pushed further.

“Uh, yes. The _other_ good one.”

“And so there’s two good sides? What’s different about yours?”

“Okay,” Lucas sighed. “I’m mostly on the bad side,” he gave in.

“Uh-huh. And here I am, entrusting my life to a criminal.”

“I have my reasons,” he explained.

“What moral reason gives you the right to be a criminal?” Elsie scoffed.

“God,” Lucas dragged a hand down his face. “You may be Hispanic but you’re so fucking white.”

“Excuse me?”

“Are you so rich that you’re completely unaware of poverty—the systematic corruption that the need to have money brings into our modern day society? I really don’t feel like giving you the cliché backstory as to why I, along with many others, decided to go into this.”

Elsie kept quiet, painfully aware that he was right.

“Sometimes being on the bad side is the only thing you can do to stay safe,” he continued. “If I want to be on someone’s bad side, I’d rather it be this resistance since they’re more caught up on the bigger guys than me, if that makes sense.”

A moment of silence passed by before Elsie decided to speak up again. It was weird—getting into his ‘job’ status. Obviously, what he did was not legal. Her mind immediately went to how her dad would disapprove, but was quickly reminded about the whole reason she was in this situation to begin with.

“What’s the worst thing you’ve done?” Elsie almost blurted.

Lucas must’ve not been expecting such a question, because his expression turned quizzical. Out of context, that question could’ve been taken in many different directions, but she was sure he knew she was referring to his “job _._ ”

“I don’t know if I want to talk about that,” he replied sternly.

“Come on,” she started, resting her elbow on the space between them and her cheek on her fist. “For the sake of my safety, I should at least know more about who you are as a person,” she defended her reasoning.

He raised a brow. “Is me helping you to not be killed not enough for you?” he asked.

“You just _keep_ bringing that up, don’t you?” she replied jokingly.

“It’s kind of a big deal, in my opinion…”

“Fine. Tell me about one of the things you’ve done,” she gave in, “Anything.”

“Jesus,” he sighed. “I don’t know. I don’t really talk about this to people.”

“Do you talk to _anyone_?” she asked, noticing how he didn’t seem to have any history of friends.

“I’ve been keeping it quiet. It’s a lot safer that way.”

Elsie frowned. “That’s no way to live.”

“It’s not isn’t it?” he asked, mostly to himself. “I guess I’m lucky to have found you,” he added dryly.

“Shut up,” she laughed. “I know you appreciate me.”

“Oh yeah. Where would I be right now without you? Living my life? Why the hell would I want that?” he questioned sarcastically, a hint of a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. She was now beginning to notice how often he suppressed his smiles, which made her heart sink a little. She’d only seen him actually smile the night before. It was so ironic to her that that was the only time she’d seen him smile—right after all the violence. She could agree the timing was off.

“It’s okay,” she said, “friends aren’t that reliable, anyways.”

“That’s a little dark,” he commented. “What’s wrong with your friends?”

She sighed. _What_ wasn’t _wrong with them?_ “I don’t know,” she began. “It just seems like I spend much of my time talking to people I think I can trust, but then there’s always something… I don’t know… _off_ about them. They swear they’re good people, but they’re not. I don’t know. Maybe I’m just weird and everyone else is screwed up.”

“No, it’s not weird at all,” he answered after a moment. “You’re not like those people, I can tell. I can see some of their qualities in you, though—or at least I saw some of them. Rich kids always threw me off.”

He was right. Being away from them made her more comfortable to be herself. Like she said, they all swore they were good people, tried so hard to convince others the same. But why waste their time? Why waste other people’s time? It made no sense to her why people would continue with their facades—the same people that pressured her to build up one of her own—than to be true to themselves?

“So,” she spoke after a second, “about your job.”

“Absolutely not.”

“But—”

“Change the subject, please.”

Elsie exhaled in defeat. There was no getting through to him, which only frustrated her more. She thought back to the night before, where he insinuated murder. She shivered, sensing the same nauseous feeling she had after she shot two people.

“Can we play a game?” she asked without thinking, mostly in an effort to distract herself.

“A game,” Lucas repeated dryly. Elsie nodded. “Like what?”

“I don’t know, something to pass the time. Something interesting…”

“You want something interesting? Why don’t we talk about the fact that you have like a hundred nicknames?”

“It’s not my fault your name as boring,” she responded, “I mean, you always have Luke but that’s fucking weird.”

“ _Hey_.”

“Sorry,” she held back a laugh. “But what I was trying to say is we should play a game. Like two truths and a lie.”

Lucas nodded hesitantly, as if unsure what he was getting into but still along for the ride. Elsie didn’t want to admit this idea was partly because she wanted to know _something_ about Lucas.

“Okay, I’ll start,” Elsie began as she shifted into a more comfortable position, almost excitedly, “I grew up taking dance classes; I’ve smoked weed _once_ ; I love cooking.”

“Weed’s a lie,” he immediately answered.

“Damn it,” she cursed, “well, it’s actually because I’ve done it twice—”

“You’ve never done drugs before,” he stated, almost monotonous.

Elsie gasped, trying to be offended. Lucas’ expression didn’t budge. “Fine. I’m a teenage girl who loves to cook and dance that’s never done drugs before. Sue me.”

“That’s not a bad thing.”

“You’re turn.”

“Fine,” he exhaled. “I’ve set two different government buildings on fire; I’ve kidnapped at least two kids; I stolen maybe ten—no,” he thought for a second, “eleven cars.”

“ _What?_ ” she almost shouted, her jaw on the ground. She wasn’t even sure which one she wanted to be a lie. To Elsie’s surprise, Lucas laughed. It was quite unusual.

“Relax, I’m messing with you,” he reassured her.

“Thank god,” she sat back, relieved.

“I’m not. I’d never kidnap a kid.”

“ _Jesus,_ Lucas!” Elsie exclaimed. “ _Arson?_ ” she leaned forward, in shock. “Grand theft auto?”

“This is exactly why I don’t want to tell you things. I thought this was a judge-free zone. I didn’t react this way when you told me you liked cooking and dancing,” he responded. Mocking her wasn’t going to go away anytime soon, she figured.

“Okay, first of all, fuck you. Secondly, I thought maybe you’d spill the beans at a more appropriate time, _clearly_ I was trying to get to know you as a person. I thought my efforts to know what you did were clearly shot down—hold on, _eleven_ cars?”

“I thought I’d make the game more interesting.”

“Did anyone get hurt?” she asked.

“I mean, no one died. This game is actually kinda fun, you should go again.”

Elsie sat back, confused, but eager to keep going. If this was how she was how she was going to extract information, so be it.

“Okay. I’ve never met my grandmother; I don’t know my real dad; I get drunk every weekend.”

“El, you are so bad at this.”

“What?”

“At _least_ make the truths interesting. The point of the game is to make the lie sound believable.”

Elsie crossed her arms in defiance. “Fine. Give me a second,” she paused, thinking more deeply this time. “Okay, so, I slapped a girl junior year; I’ve gone skinny dipping in a lake recently; I think Tyler might have cheated on me once with Cassie Lewis last year.”

Lucas grimaced. “Okay. You’re still bad at this, but it got slightly better… but I’m gonna say the skinny dipping is a lie.”

Elsie broke out into a grin. Now, Lucas was the one with his jaw on the floor.

“You _did not_ ,” he gasped dramatically, taking his eyes momentarily off the road to see if she was lying.

“Oh yeah,” she confirmed, not going into any further details. It was a dare Mara gave her at one of their girls’ trips with a few other close friends. She decided not to elaborate.

“So, the last one is too specific, and as much as I’d like to believe you’ve slapped a bitch recently, I’m gonna say that one’s the lie.”

“Yup. That’s the lie.”

“Wait, so Tyler cheated on you?” he backpedaled, now realizing that was one of her truths.

“No. Well, I don’t know. They were pretty close last year. Actually, _super_ close,” she paused, taking a moment to breathe, “I knew they would party together a lot, and I’m a trusting person, you know? I like to have my faith in people, so I was never one to tell him who he should and shouldn’t talk to. Anyways, they were close, would party a lot, then suddenly… it all stopped. I asked him why, but he never wanted to talk about it. I think _something_ happened, maybe not necessarily cheating, but it always kind of made me uncomfortable.”

“That… sucks. Sorry to hear,” he apologized. “You have a good heart, you know that, right?”

Elsie smiled, “Doesn’t always feel that way.”

“Here, I’ll go again. I’m allergic to most nuts; I was _also_ valedictorian of my class; I’m a really good kisser.”

Elsie burst out into a laugh. She couldn’t tell if he was being ironically cocky or just trying to be funny. “I really want to say the being-a-good-kisser one’s the lie. _But_ I really doubt you were valedictorian.”

Lucas raised a brow, not giving away anything before answering. “I actually was.”

“No way! Look where you are now,” she laughed.

“Better than where you’re bound to end up.”

Once again, Elsie’s jaw dropped at another one of his remarks. At least she was able to learn a little bit more about Lucas: he had a blunt sense of humor.

“So no nut allergy. Should’ve known it was the most boring one. I didn’t know this game was about being a show-off.”

Lucas shrugged. “Make it one.”

“All right… I can type seventy words per minute; I currently hold my school’s track record for fastest mile; I have amazingly soft hair,” she recalled as she smiled keenly.

“Okay,” Lucas rolled his eyes. “Lucky for me I can actually fact check—” he stopped himself as he lifted a hand from the steering wheel and brough it to Elsie’s head, messing up her hair.

“ _Lucas_ —” Elsie jumped.

“I’m gonna say seventy words per minute,” he stated, sure of his answer.

“What makes you say that?”

“Seems kinda low for you, is all.”

“Hmph,” she breathed as she turned away.

“Am I wrong?”

“No… it’s ninety words per minute.”

“ _Aha_ ,” he said as he allowed himself to smile this time, but only victoriously. “You’re too predictable besides the skinny dipping. Really got me there… say, how did that go?”

“Nope,” she immediately rejected, pressing her lips shut.

“Come on—”

“I’m gonna let your imagination take care of that one for me, thanks.”

Lucas, as if uncharacteristically caught off guard, did not respond at first. “Sure,” he said after a minute, going quiet. Elsie suppressed a laugh—he was definitely not as hard as he presented himself to be.

Her comment was a little too strong of an innuendo for her liking, but for some reason she didn’t mind. She’d let him picture for himself one of her rare nights of rebellion, just like she planned to do for his _really good_ kissing. Her face promptly fell at the thought—what she said, what she wanted to think about—was not something Tyler would be a fan of.

She quickly dismissed the feeling of guilt. They were just thoughts.

Nothing more.


	15. PEPPER'S

It was half-past ten o’clock by the time they’d reached their destination. Elsie sat restlessly in her seat, knowing very well that they could walk into just about anything. They were tucked in the corner of a parking lot, in front of a dark building with the word _Pepper's_ in bright neon lights.

Elsie swung the sun visor down in front of her face, taking one last look in its mirror before having the confidence to head out. She was wearing a bit more makeup than usual, as well as a blonde wig. And a trench coat.

“Do I actually have to be undercover here?” she asked, a slight pout in her face.

“This was _your_ idea,” Lucas replied. “A real good one too,” he slightly smiled.

“ _Hey._ ”

“What? It’s a good idea as in a smart one,” he reasoned sarcastically.

“I’m prone to awful ideas.”

Lucas took a glance at her. “Trust me, this one is probably one of your best.”

She wanted to choke him. She couldn’t tell if he was mocking her or flirting with her. Aside from the fact that they could be walking straight into a trap, all she could find herself thinking about lately was last night.

“As long as no one sees what’s under this trench coat, I’m fine,” she said to herself.

“All right,” Lucas started, not paying mind to Elsie’s nervousness. “My sources are telling me that we have to walk in there and speak to whoever’s up front. We have to ask for Tuesday night’s special.”

Elsie furrowed a brow. “It’s Thursday.”

“We’re not here to judge duress words. Do you have the stuff?” he asked in a low, serious voice. Elsie rolled her eyes.

“You mean the switchblade, pepper spray, and tazer you made me stuff into my pockets?” she asked, patting them to make sure they were there. Lucas smiled uncharacteristically bright.

“Perfect. Now, come on, we got work to do,” he winked as he headed out.

Elsie gulped regretfully before sliding on her sunglasses. She knew the second she stepped out of the vehicle, she had to build up a believable façade. Success was crucial, and not achieving it was out of the question. She wasn’t going to fail something else because of her uncomfortableness with the uncomfortable. Not again.

“We’ll take a Tuesday night’s special,” Elsie spoke to the hostess stationed at the front as her arm snaked around Lucas’. Lucas did not hesitate to play along. She made sure to push her sunglasses up onto her head, and her chin held high.

The woman nodded, not showing a hint of any indication of Elsie’s use of their duress word. Elsie was concerned for a split second that maybe there _was_ a Tuesday night’s special, and Lucas and Elsie were in for an unwanted treat.

“Follow me,” the woman spoke as she turned to one of the doors.

Elsie grimaced as she followed the woman. Clearly, she was not a dancer due to her casual attire.

She led them through a dimly lit hallway, as expected any room throughout the building. It made Elsie wonder whether or not the strip club was some sort of ploy for what was really going on.

Finally, the woman stopped at a door guarded by a keypad. She covered the dial pad as she quickly punched several numbers, allowing the door to be opened.

“Go in,” the woman commanded as she propped the door open. Elsie grew even more skeptical, her fingers reaching to her trench coat pocket holding her assortment of small—yet effective—weaponry.

She glanced at Lucas before entering the dark room. Various neon signs hung around its walls, providing some light, but hardly enough. As they entered, both took a seat on what Elsie could make out as a retro velvet couch. The room was empty.

“They’ll be with you soon,” the woman stated, her voice dull, as she left them behind.

“Do you think they’ll kill us?” Elsie asked, not sure whether or not she was joking.

“At this point?” Lucas sighed. “Hopefully.”

It didn’t take long until the door opened again. Two figures stepped into the room: one man and woman. They sat down comfortably in front of them before speaking. The man took this time to pull out his laptop.

“State your name and case,” the woman demanded. From what Elsie could see, she was a dark, thin woman, no older than thirty, probably.

She took a deep breath before speaking. “My name is Elizabeth Lucia Clairmont,” she began, her voice trembling. She’d never had to say it out loud, verbatim, to anyone else. “I don’t know how much you guys know about any of this, but I currently have a script on my head for fifty million dollars,” she stated firmly. Just saying it out loud made her head spin.

“Who’s he?” another deeper voice spoke up. It came from the man accompanying the unknown woman. He was Asian, appeared a little bit older, and wore glasses. His open laptop rested on his lap, his fingers ready to type. His laptop was plain, aside from the one sticker that read _RACC_ in red, capital letters.

“I’m Lucas,” he started, his voice deep.

“Lucas what?” he pursued.

“Lucas Johnathan Glover,” he replied with a stubborn voice. That was the first time Elsie had heard his full name. His name was quickly followed by a collection of typing from him. He was quick to research, which seemed to make Lucas weary for some reason.

“I’m the one helping her. Or, at least, trying to.”

The man didn’t bat an eye.

The woman leaned over to a lamp resting on a nightstand next to her, flipping it on. Their features became a lot more visible.

“We know who you are, Elsie,” the woman spoke as she met her eyes. Her face was serious, but her eyes were full of something she couldn’t quite decipher. Anger? Resentment? She assumed their jobs were not easy.

“I’m Gina, by the way,” she continued. “This is Ben.” He waved slightly, his eyes still glued to his screen. “We’ve actually heard about this.”

“Yeah,” Ben interjected as he worked. “I’m usually the one moderating the scripts, in case anything weird pops up. This’s really been getting everyone’s attention.”

“Wait, so you already knew?” Elsie questioned.

“As soon as you both introduced yourselves, yes, we knew exactly who you two were,” he replied.

“Both of us?” Lucas asked, nerved.

“Yes,” Ben replied as his eyes met Lucas’s. “Both of you.”

“And is that gonna be a problem?” Gina asked Ben. Suddenly all seriousness in their faces were gone.

“Yup, sure is,” Ben stated as he closed his laptop.

“Thought so,” Gina smiled an apathetic smile.

Elsie gave her a confused look. “What do you mean?”

“All right, you two,” Ben grimaced. “Lucas _Johnathan_ Glover. You’re known for a series of petty to minor, and some slightly serious crimes within the scripts. You’re also known to work with others that, let’s just say, we can’t trust. How can we trust someone who’s constantly with the enemy?”

Lucas didn’t respond at first. “I get that, I do. But you shouldn’t _not_ help her because of my past.”

Ben laughed. “Past?”

“Yes,” Lucas gritted through his teeth.

“You mean yesterday?” Gina chided. “Come on, dude, suddenly you’re no longer interested in all that cash you’ve been making? We both know that’s not true.”

The conversation was making Elsie feel sick. Mostly because Lucas never went into depth about what he did, or how much money he made from it—aside from what he told her on the way there. And to have all the answers right in front of her? It was like pandora’s box being opened right then and there.

“It doesn’t matter, okay? I don’t exactly plan on continuing this whole lifestyle anyways. I’m just trying to fix things,” he spoke seriously, refusing to look anywhere near her direction. It was one of the first times she’s heard any actual reasoning as to why he was helping her. “And if that means you guys will help her as long as I’m not here, then I’m okay with leaving. As long as she’ll be safe.”

“Aw, that’s sweet,” Gina smiled. “Are you two in love or something? Did that change you?” Both Lucas and Elsie shifted uncomfortably. “Because the Lucas we know,” she said as she motioned towards the laptop, “doesn’t seem like he wants to change.”

“That was a sweet gesture, too,” Ben continued, “but Elsie is _also_ part of the problem.”

Elsie felt her heart drop.

“Look, all those things I did back there, it was for my own protection.”

“Whatever self-defense you had to do, completely understandable. We totally get that. Except the part that your dad is Daniel Clairmont, one of the major cyber criminals RACC’s been targeting for years.”

They both fell silent, knowing very well they couldn’t argue against it.

“So that’s it?” Lucas spoke up. “She had no idea who her father was. She believed he was some major CEO. She was completely in the dark until I broke it to her.”

They eyed her skeptically.

“Look, I know I’m not a good person. Neither is her father. But Elsie? She’s innocent, and as good as they come. Even better, actually. Please, don’t throw her to the wolves because of her father’s mistakes, or mine.”

They were silent for a moment before speaking.

“Okay, but what happens when we decide to help her out? She goes back to her criminal father and you to your criminal lifestyle?”

“What do any of those have to do with her? You guys are the moral ones here, right?” Lucas questioned. “How moral does it sound to you let her inevitably die because you refused to help?”

Gina’s face grew stone cold. “You think I’m concerned about morality? Do you have any idea how many other innocent lives are completely destroyed at the hands of her father?” Gina hissed, now staring Elsie straight in the eye. “Many. Too many. Now, I’d love to say my moral compass is perfect and I care about every single innocent life, but in order for any of this to work, I need to have my priorities straight. Valuing everyone will get me nowhere. Sacrifices need to be made sometimes to get where we need to be. And if many other people, not born from some monster like your heartless dad, need my help, I’d much rather spend my time turning the other cheek to something that may or may not solve this damned problem we’ve been facing for way too long.”

Elsie continued to hold eye contact, refusing to look away.

“So you agree,” she stated coldly. “You think whatever statement this person trying to kill me is making, this damn script causing lots of people to go after me, is the right thing to do?” she asked, visibly trembling with anger.

Gina’s face remained cold. She leaned forward. “Your father makes me so sick, I’d choke you for free,” she spat before standing up and walking out the door.

They all sat there silently, shaken up. Elsie wanted nothing more than to be alone. The only chance they had, and they were too disgusted to even think of helping them.

“Look,” Ben spoke up unexpectedly after a while. “I understand, surprisingly, what it’s like to be targeted. It’s not fun. And Gina, she’s only so worked up because she’s had some bad run-ins with this whole thing. And I mean _really_ bad. I’m pretty sure some of that anger is because she wasn’t able to think of that script first. We didn’t even know he even had a daughter.”

Elsie furrowed his brows at him in confusion.

“What I’m saying is, even though I kind of agree with her, I also kind of agree with you guys.”

“What do you mean?” Lucas questioned.

“You guys clearly need help. And I can tell you aren’t bad people, really. Not only that, you’re also really capable of giving us some valuable information.”

“So you’re gonna help us?” Elsie asked skeptically.

“Yes. I’ll help you. Gina just… won’t know about it… yet,” he replied uneasily. “But it’s fine, really.”

“What do you want in return?” Lucas asked. “I mean, you did say we’re capable of giving you valuable information. What did you have in mind?”

“Glad you reminded me of that, yes. I am willing to help you two. But, at a price you probably won’t like.”

Elsie and Lucas gave each other skeptical looks. Ben offered them a wry smile before laying out his bargain.


End file.
